"Nobody is lower and nobody is higher in existence. There is no hierarchy. And as far as truth is concerned, fundamentally it is inexpressible. But if you want to express the inexpressible, then you can use even contradictory terms to indicate the same thing.

"Two different fingers, coming from two different angles, can point to the same moon. The mind may find it difficult. In fact the Zen master's whole work is to make things so difficult for the mind that you become tired of the mind, tired of thinking, and you put it aside. And that moment of restfulness, when you have put the mind aside, brings you to the door of existence.

"This small anecdote is very significant.

"Ma Tzu stayed with his master, Nangaku, for more than ten years. On leaving him, he became abbot of the Kai-yuan Temple at Chiang-si.

"In his sermons, Ma Tzu followed closely the basic insights of the sixth patriarch, Eno – particularly, that there is no buddha outside of one's own mind.

"This word mind can be understood as the ordinary mind, full of thoughts, emotions, sentiments and attachments. And this same mind can also be thought of as empty. You can empty it of all thoughts, of all emotions. And the moment this mind is empty, there is no difference between mind and no-mind. So there is no need to be confused.

"A few masters will use: 'The present mind contains everything, even the buddha.' But the condition is that the mind should be empty. Then it, itself, is the buddha.

"Buddha's own statement is significant. He says, 'This very body, the buddha; this very mind, the lotus paradise.' But continuously he is saying that you are not the body, you are not the mind. Then what does he mean with this contradiction? He is simply saying that if you are not identified with the body, this very body is as much a buddha as anything in the world. If you are not filled with thoughts, this very mind is as spacious as the whole sky. He is not contradicting himself, he is simply using contradictory ways to indicate the truth.

"Eno was the man who had introduced Ma Tzu to Nangaku."