Rumi died. Nobody bothered about him; they rushed to take out the book, opened the book and this was a greater shock than Rumi’s death: the book was empty. They turned every page – perhaps somewhere something is written. But from the beginning to the last – there must have been three hundred pages – it was just empty, nothing was written in it. And Rumi used to say to them: “This is a religious scripture; perhaps this is the only religious scripture.”

To become a master in your own right means to dissolve like snowflakes into the thin air of silence. Still, a certain space will remain throbbing within you; that is your truth, that is your Zen. And to jump from your body, from your mind to that inner space, unspoiled, untraveled, untrodden by anybody, you have taken the quantum leap.

This quantum leap makes you a master in your own right.

Hyakujo asked Obaku where he had come from.

Obaku said, “From gathering mushrooms at the foot of Mount Daiyu.”

Zen has a special language. I have been insistently reminding you not to take these words as ordinary; they belong to a different kind of consciousness.

When Hyakujo asked, “From where are you coming?” he is asking, “Do you have a beginning?” If you have a beginning, then you will have an end – they come together. He is asking Obaku not about the place from where he is coming, but the space in which he is.

“Did you see the tiger there?” asked Hyakujo.
Obaku roared like a tiger.

I don’t know whether this gorilla can give a good gorilla shout.

[The gorilla screams loudly.]

Don’t make Maneesha afraid. Be a gentleman! It is a question of the dignity and respect of gorilla culture. Anyway, everybody is happy that you have come. I hope you will give a dance too at the end. So get ready!

Obaku roared like a tiger.
Hyakujo lifted up his ax and made as if to chop him down.
Obaku gave Hyakujo a slap.

This is a strange dialogue, but both have recognized each other, their mastership.

Hyakujo sang out and laughed…

He has been slapped by a stranger. Rather than replying, he went out, sang and laughed.