I sometimes wonder: all those stone statues of Buddha around the world – are they real people who have stopped growing and become stones? Will they ever understand and start growing again, and talking and walking?

Even Gautam Buddha accepted that there is something still beyond him. He is not the end, he is only the beginning – true understanding, an honest expression. Buddha says, “I am only born, now the growth begins.”

Zuigan was lost in thought…

Listening to Ganto,

…and Ganto said, “If you agree to this, you are still in the dust of this world.”

This is a very beautiful point to be remembered. If you agree to this, to what I have said, remember: agreement means movement has stopped. You have already agreed. If you agree to this, you are still in the world.

And if you disagree, you will always be sunk in life-and-death.

What a great insight, that even agreement or disagreement are not allowed. You are to grow beyond all dualities. It does not matter what the duality is, because every duality means choosing one against the other, and growth stops.

Life is a choicelessness. Never choose. Just be, and allow your being to grow to unknown skies, to unknown spaces. And you will find your buddhahood bringing more and more flowers, showering more and more blessings, bringing greater and greater ecstasies. And there is no end to it.

Manzan wrote a poem:

One minute of sitting, one inch of buddha.
Like lightning, all thoughts come and pass.
Just once look into your mind depths:
Nothing else has ever been.

He is making two points in his small poem. One minute of sitting – even one minute of sitting without doing anything, no thought stirring inside you, all is utterly silent – one inch of buddha. You have found at least one inch of buddhahood. And you don’t need much more. Each moment, go on. And whatever you have found will also go on growing. From one inch to one yard, and from one yard to one mile, and from one mile to one light year, and it will go on and on. Buddhahood is a pilgrimage which ends nowhere.