"But that is not true about the people outside the Zen circle. This anecdote is a beautiful illustration.

Nansen once went into the garden and, seeing a monk there, threw a piece of broken tile at him and hit him. When the monk turned his head, Nansen lifted up one leg.

"Now there is something Nansen wants to convey through the gesture, but the monk missed.

The monk made no response. Nansen returned to the temple and the monk followed him and asked to be taught, saying 'The master just threw a piece of tile at me and hit me. Did he not do this as a means of arousing me?'
Nansen said, 'How about raising the leg?'
The monk was silent.

"The gesture is ancient. The monk turned only halfway when he was hit, he turned halfway and looked at the master. That's why the master raised one leg. He is saying, 'Turn totally; halfway will not do. Halfhearted you cannot enter into yourself. Have a complete about-turn.' That was the meaning of raising one leg: 'You are doing it, but very halfheartedly.'

"There are things which can be done halfheartedly. In the whole world whatever we are doing, nothing requires your total being to be involved in it. But as far as the inner pilgrimage is concerned your total being is needed. Nothing has to be left behind. You have to gather your whole consciousness. In that very gathering you are coming closer to the center.

"Right now we are living on the circumference, completely forgetful about the center, yet the center is the source and the center is the goal. At the very center of your being is the connecting link with the universe. There you are not you. At the very center you disappear, there only remains a pure consciousness, a fragrance.

"People are afraid to go in, for the simple reason they can feel, unconsciously of course, that they can exist only as personalities on the circumference. If they go deeper into their own being, they will have to leave their personalities, their egos, their respectabilities; all that they have gathered will have to be left. They will have to go alone as consciousness, pure consciousness."