"Entering the gate of Zen practice simply means
returning to your mind as it naturally is before thinking arises. This point is
universal substance and your true nature. People sometimes call it true self,
or nature, or Buddha, or God, or energy, or mind, or consciousness, or
holiness, or the Absolute. People call it many, many things, but originally
this point has no name and no form. [Hits the table.] That is because
this point is already before thinking. It cannot be grasped with conceptual
thought. If you call it anything, or give it any kind of name, this is only
thinking and understanding, and none of that can help you. The great Chinese
Zen master Nam Cheon said that attaining our true self is 'not dependent on
understanding, and not dependent on not-understanding. Understanding is
illusion; not-understanding is just blankness.' Your relationship to this world
and your relationship to yourself are not based on thinking. Your correct
relationship to this life does not come out of any kind of understanding. You
cannot reason life or death. So if you want to pass the gate of Zen, first you
must completely cut off all attachment to thinking, and return to your mind
before thinking arises." —Zen Master Seung Sahn
