A monk had come to see Kisu and after a very brief stay was making his departure.
Kisu said, “Where are you going?”
The monk replied, “I’m going all over the place learning the five flavors of Zen.”
Kisu said, “Yes, there are the five flavors of Zen in various places, but here I have only one.”
The monk asked, “And what may be your one-flavored Zen?”
Kisu struck him.
The monk said, “I understand! I understand!”
Kisu said, “Tell me what! Tell me what!” and as the monk began to speak, Kisu struck him again.

At another time, a monk asked Kisu, “What is the Buddha?”
“If I tell you,” said Kisu, “will you believe me?”
The monk replied, “The master’s words are so momentous, how could I not believe them?”
Kisu said, “Simply, you are it.”
The monk asked, “How can we maintain this state?”
Kisu said, “If your eye is just a little clouded, flowery illusions are rampant.”
The monk was enlightened at this.

Maneesha, Zen is not what it says, but what it shows. It is a finger pointing to the moon in absolute silence. All words have to be understood as fingers pointing to the moon. It is not a philosophy, it is an indication.

You have to understand these anecdotes with this background in mind.

A monk had come to see Kisu and after a very brief stay was making his departure.
Kisu said, “Where are you going?”

These questions in Zen don’t have the same meaning as they have in common language. When a Zen master asks, “Where are you going?” he means, “There is no way to go anywhere, you are everywhere. Where can you go? Your consciousness is as wide as the whole universe.

“Where are you going?”

In a simple question; there is the tremendous implication that you are not the body you think, you are not the mind you think, and you are not the desire you think.

You are the witness which fills the whole universe.

You cannot go anywhere. Wherever you go, you are swimming into yourself. This whole ocean of existence is yours. It has no boundaries, no limits.

When Kisu asked, “Where are you going?” the monk replied,

“I’m going all over the place learning the five flavors of Zen.”

He could not understand the question. He understood the language but he could not see the indication.