That’s what I have been telling you: whatever is wrong in you has not come from nature, it is part of your heritage, your social and cultural heritage. Unless you become totally free from culture – the so-called civilization – and show the strength of being alone, man will never arrive on this planet.

Vimal’s existential statement is worth appreciating. He did it well, without knowing that he is exposing everybody else too. You all have to look deep down and drop your gorilla coats. Find the diamond of your being – inside.

Gautam Buddha even had a series of lectures, called The Diamond Sutra, to discover the diamond within you. Nobody can give it to you. You already have it; you only have to be shaken awake.

On the occasion of his first visiting Rinzai,
Kankei had hardly crossed the threshold,
when Rinzai suddenly seized him by the lapels.
Kankei said, “I understand! I understand!”
Rinzai let go of him, and said,
“For the time being I will omit the twenty blows!”

Rinzai was one of the most lovely masters in the history of Zen. He brought Zen from China to Japan, but he had lived with Chinese masters. He carried the same flame that Bodhidharma had taken from India to China. He had something of the same greatness, beauty, and the absurd approach to awaken you. Anything rational your mind absorbs, and goes on sleeping; something absurd, which the mind cannot make any sense of, is absolutely needed to cut the mind in a single blow.

On the occasion of his first visiting to Rinzai,
Kankei had hardly crossed the threshold,
when Rinzai suddenly seized him by the lapels.

Kankei immediately said, “I understand! I understand!” He knew that this man had been beating people to wake up. He had been known to throw people from windows out of his room, and jump upon them and ask them, “Do you understand?”

Nothing was impossible for this man. Out of fear, Kankei said, “I understand! I understand! Just don’t start. This is enough!”

Rinzai let go of him, and said,
“For the time being I will omit the twenty blows!”

“You require to be beaten at least twenty times. But for the time being I will leave it, you are not ripe enough. You are so fearful that I have not said anything and you start shouting, ‘I understand!’ You have not even crossed the threshold. You are not worthy to have a taste of my stick.”

“For the time being, I will omit the twenty blows.”