When a man like Bodhidharma speaks, small questions, ordinary questions, are transformed into great inquiries. And whatsoever he says about those ordinary questions is of immense significance. His every word has to be pondered over, meditated upon. This will also give you a little taste of communion between the disciple and the master.

The first thing that you will note is: the question is asked, the answer is given, but the disciple never asks any question about the answer given. The answer has been totally accepted. It is not an inquiry from a student. It is an inquiry from a disciple. So the answer of Bodhidharma does not create any more questions, it simply ends the question. The disciple asks another question but never raises a question about the answer, concerning the answer.

That is the first thing to be noted. That is a very central part of communion. It is trust, it is faith. It is not belief, but it is certainly faith. And there is a difference between belief and faith. When you believe in something, the doubt still persists in you. The belief can only cover it up, it never destroys it. It will rise again and again and again. No belief can destroy your doubt, because belief is in the head and doubt is also in the head. Faith is of the heart, something far superior to the head. The question comes from the head. The answer is received in the heart, at a higher altitude of your being. And then the question simply disappears from the head. The heart knows how to trust, the heart knows what faith is.

Faith is not against doubt, faith is absence of doubt. Belief is against doubt. Belief represses doubt, faith dissolves it. Belief is like a blind man believing that there is light. Faith is like one who has opened his eyes and seen the light. The moment you see the light there is no question of doubting anymore.

Communion means communion of two hearts. The student functions from the head, the disciple through the heart. And only the disciple can understand the master. And when all the questions of the disciple are dissolved he becomes a devotee. Then the head has disappeared totally. Then there is only the heart, functioning in rhythm with the master’s heart, in deep accord. This will give you an insight into communion.

The question is:

What is buddha-mind?

It has been asked again and again down the centuries. For twenty-five centuries all those who have become interested in Gautama the Buddha have asked the question: What is buddha-mind?