…enlightenment.

The truth is, there is nothing to find.

So, all your running is useless. I can testify this statement must be coming from Bodhidharma himself. There is nothing to find. You are all.

The finder itself is the treasure; there is nothing else to find. Hence, I have told you that Jesus’ statement, “Seek, and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you, ask and it shall be given,” is beautiful, poetic, impressive, but not true.

If you follow Bodhidharma, he will say, “Seek, and you shall never find,” because every seeking takes you away from yourself. Who are you trying to find? You are the one, you are the buddha. Where are you going?

Do not knock, otherwise the door will be closed because your very knocking is a desire, is a demand – and a buddha has no desire, no demand. That’s why the door is always open for him.

Do not ask, otherwise you will go on missing. Who are you asking? There is no one to give it to you. You have already got it. In asking you are wandering away, you are looking up to somebody else. And nobody can give it to you. There is no question of giving it to you, you have got it already.

So all that is needed is neither seeking, nor knocking, nor asking. All that is needed is to be aware of your own nature and you have found it. There is nothing to find. But to reach such an understanding you need a master.

Why do you need a master? Because you already have the truth within you, why can’t you just relax and become conscious of it?

The problem is that for ages your consciousness has been wandering all over the world. It has forgotten the way to come home. It has been a long, long time since you left home and now you don’t know whether you have a home or whether you ever had a home. Your remembrance of home seems to be as if you have seen it in a movie or in a dream, or you have read about it somewhere. It is a faraway echo in the valleys; it does not give you a certainty.

Hence, the need of a master. The master is nothing but a certainty. His presence makes it absolutely certain that there is much more within you than you ever dreamt of. His eyes give you a glimpse of your own possibility. His silence provokes a silence in you and his authority triggers a process in you. Bodhidharma is right:

But to reach such an understanding you need a teacher. And you need to struggle to make yourself understand. Life and death are important. Don’t suffer them in vain. There is no advantage in deceiving yourself.