This dance of rain around you, and your heart rejoicing…the silence, the coolness.

You are not students; a student is interested only in accumulating information. Remember these two words: information and transformation. The student is seeking more information, collecting more knowledge. The world gives great respect to the scholarly.

The disciple has taken an absolutely contrary direction; he does not want to know, he wants to be. He does not want to gather knowledge; he wants eyes that can see and the ears that can hear – he wants absolute sensitivity. In other words, he wants his whole being to become a flame of awareness. In that flame all that is rubbish will be burned and you will come out twenty-four carat gold. That is your very nature in its utter purity.

Myoshu asked a wrong question from the very beginning: “What is an entry for the student?” There is no entry for any student. There is no possibility of meeting between a master and a student. The master will be speaking from the heights of the Himalayas and the student will be roaming somewhere around M.G. Road. The difference is even bigger, because the language of the heights is totally different.

Emyo said….

Look, this is how the language is different. This is not the answer to the question as far as modern education, logic, or intellect is concerned, but Zen is not at all worried about your logic, your Aristotles.

Emyo said, “Come here! – don’t ask stupid questions – Come here! Here is the door. Don’t ask for any entry; the doors are always open – in fact, there are no doors.”

I have told you about the Sufi mystic woman, Rabiya al-Adabiya. She is a rare woman, in the sense that very few women have reached to that height. She belongs to the category of buddhas. Naturally, she was thought to be a little outlandish, a little eccentric, a little insane.

She used to pass by on the road and every day she saw a Sufi who later became a great master, Hassan, always praying outside the mosque near the steps. One day, suddenly, Rabiya stood for a while to see what this man was doing there every day. And she heard that Hassan is saying, “God, how long do I have to wait – when will you open the door?”

Rabiya hit Hassan on the head and said, “You idiot! The door is always open; in fact, there is no door – just enter! Don’t waste time here sitting on the road…and people have started thinking that you are a great saint. Just go in!”

The woman and her authority were such that Hassan closed his eyes and stopped his prayer; he went in. Rabiya tapped on his back, and said, “This is the right way; just go in. I cannot stand here, I have something else to do.”