If he had said, “I do not seek, and it is found,” it would have been Zen. If the “I” remains, then truth will remain clouded. The “I” functions as a cloud, and the sun goes behind. The “I” functions as a darkness, as a vale of darkness. The “I” is very noisy, and the voice of truth is very small, still. If the “I” is there beating its drums, then it is almost impossible to hear the whispering of truth.

Yes, truth is a whisper. You feel it only when you are absolutely not. In your absence it is present.

So this is the whole thing: if you are present, truth is absent; if you are absent, truth is present. To be absent is all that meditation is. To be absent is all that is involved in meditation.

How to become absent? How not to be? Yes, “To be or not to be” is the question. And ordinarily we decide to be. The moment we decide to be, the samsara. The moment we decide not to be, the nirvana. Yes, that is the basic question that encounters every human being: to be or not to be. A Buddha decides not to be.

And the paradox is that those who decide not to be, they become true, and those who decide to be, they become a lie. The lie can persist; you can go on feeding it.

Truth is, just is, only is. Seeking, you miss it. Seeking, you have started looking somewhere else. Seeking, you don’t look here. Seeking, your eyes are turned upwards towards the sky. That’s why whenever we think of God we look upwards towards the sky. It is very significant: God is far away, sitting in the seventh heaven, up. It is a long journey; only very rare people can do it – saints, mahatmas, ascetics. All nonsense.

God is where you are right now! Not in the seventh heaven, but within you.

But about those seven heavens, the metaphor of “seven” is beautiful. God is not in the seventh heaven somewhere, but is hidden behind seven layers of lies. There is a very strange incident in Bodhidharma’s life, the founder of Zen. It is said that Bodhidharma collapsed seven times and arose eight times, when he realized enlightenment. Collapsed seven times and arose eight times. Very significant. Those are the seven layers of the ego, the seven layers of the “I.” Each “I” will help you to collapse, and if you cannot rise eight times, that means if you cannot rise at least one time without the ego, you will not attain.

So the whole question is not that the truth is very far. It is very close, very, very close. It is in you, it is you, it is your intrinsic nature, it is your dharma. That is the first principle, but somehow, seeking, you have missed it.

Seeking, you have been for many lives. A seeker you have been. Non-seeking will reveal it.