“Love. Thinking is necessary, but not enough.

      One must know living also. Otherwise one becomes like the philosopher mentioned by Søren Kierkegaard who builds a fine palace, but is doomed not to live in it – he has a shed for himself next door to what he has constructed for others, including himself, to look at!

       “Meditation is not thinking – but living.

Live it daily – moment to moment; that is, live in it or let it live in you. It is not something otherworldly either because all such distinctions are from the mind – they are speculative and not existential.

       “And meditation is existential. It is no more than one’s everyday life experience – lived totally.

       “When Mencius says, ‘The truth is near and people seek it far away,’ he means this.

       “Or, when Tokusan is asked about it he replies, ‘When you are hungry you eat, when you are thirsty you drink, and when you meet a friend you greet him.’ He means this.

       “Or, sings Ho Koji, ‘How wondrous this, how mysterious! I carry fuel, I draw water.’ He also means this.

       “And when you are near me, whatsoever I may say, I always mean this.

       “Or, I may not say anything – but then too I always mean this.”

       “Love.

       “One day Lin-chi was asked, ‘What is the essence of meditation?’

       “Lin-chi came right down from his seat and taking hold of the questioner by the front of his robe, slapped his face, and let him go.

       “The questioner, of course, stood there stupefied.

       “Then Lin-chi laughed and said to him, ‘Why don’t you bow?’

       “This woke him from his reverie, and when he was about to make a bow to the master, he had his first taste of meditation.

       “Please, read this again and again and again – and if you do not have the same taste then slap your face yourself, and then laugh and bow down to yourself. And then you will have the same taste – surely!”