Zen Mind

Separation Creates Illusions

If you really want to analyze a man, you will have to analyze the whole of existence, because if your father had not been there in the world, you would not have been here. And your father may have met your mother just accidentally because they happened to study at the same school. If that school hadn’t been there, you would not be here. Even if the school had been there but coeducational, you may not have been here, because when there is no coeducation people fall in love more. When there is coeducation, who bothers? When there is coeducation, there is less romance. When children are kept apart – boys separate from girls – girls become fantastically beautiful, boys become fantastically beautiful. The separation creates illusions.

And so on and so forth… You can go backward to the very beginning of the universe. Not only to the primal scream, you will have to go to God’s scream, the first scream, when he said, “Let there be light!” My own feeling is that when he uttered the first words, they were not, “Let there be light” – somebody has misunderstood. He said, “Let there be logic.” And since then man has been in trouble. Light is not such a trouble.

“Let there be logic.” The world we live in is a logical construct. Analysis won’t help; you can go on forever. That’s why analysis is prolonged. If you fall into the trap of a Freudian, it can continue for three years, six years, ten years. It depends on how much you can afford. The analysis never ends, only your bank balance. When the bank balance is finished the analyst says, “Now it is finished.” Otherwise it continues because analysis has no beginning and no end. It is a circle – you can go on moving and moving.

“Look!” is breaking the circle. Just looking, staring into things. Not figuring out what is what, just looking into things as they are. Just looking, pure looking, and suddenly all the clouds start dispersing, evaporating. Soon your pure looking has created the pure space around you.

“What is the difference between analyzing and understanding?” Analysis is of the mind; it is an exercise of logic, reason, thinking. Understanding is not of the mind at all. It is a pure witnessing, you simply see. The mind is there all around you, and you see from the center. The mind is all around you, many clouds moving, traffic, the rush hour. You see it, but you are the seer. You are not troubled by it; there is nothing to be troubled about. A few empty thoughts floating around you – why be troubled? And why get into analysis? Those empty thoughts are just empty thoughts, forms flickering around. Let them flicker. You remain settled in your being, you remain centered, you remain at the very core.

This is what is called witnessing. And witnessing is the technique, the ultimate technique, of all spiritual understanding. Just see.

Zen masters end their talks with a shout, “San!” San means “Look!” That is the final touch to their every talk. With a shout, so nobody is allowed to remain sleepy. It is almost like a lion’s roar, “Look!” Into what? That is not the point. Just looking at anything will do. When you are looking at the trees, just look. Don’t say this is an ashoka tree and that it is a cypress tree. Don’t say that the tree is beautiful and don’t say the tree is green, very green, and don’t say that the gulmohar is flowering. Don’t say anything. The flowers are red…

Don’t say at all, just look. Let words disappear. Let there be you and the phenomenon of the trees, or you and the phenomenon of your woman or your man, your friend, people. Let there be just reality – and have a look. Suddenly you will start having a few moments, great moments: great moments of timelessness, great moments of vision, clarity, transparency, great moments when suddenly everything stops. And when you simply see, a pure vision arises, the same vision that may have been there when you were born and for the first time opened your eyes: there was no word.