The present is not part of time. Have you ever thought about it? How long is the present? The past has a duration, the future has a duration. What is the duration of the present? How long does it last? Between the past and the future can you measure the present? It is immeasurable; it is almost not. It is not time, not at all. It is the penetration of eternity into time.
Zen lives in the present. Its whole teaching is how to be in the present: how to get out of the past which is no more and how not to get involved in the future which is not yet, just to be rooted, centered, in that which is.
The whole approach of Zen is of immediacy and because of this it can bridge the past and the future. It can bridge many things. It can bridge the past and the future, it can bridge the East and the West, it can bridge body and soul. It can bridge the unbridgeable worlds: this world and that, the mundane and the sacred.
Before we enter into this small anecdote it would be good to understand a few things. First, the masters do not tell the truth. Even if they want to they cannot; it is impossible. What then is their function? What do they go on doing? They cannot tell the truth, but they can call forth the truth which is fast asleep in you. They can provoke it, they can challenge it. They can shake you up, they can wake you up. They cannot give you godliness, truth, nirvana, because in the first place you already have it. You are born with it. It is innate, it is intrinsic. It is your very nature. So anybody who pretends to give you the truth is simply exploiting your stupidity, your gullibility. He is cunning, cunning and utterly ignorant too. He knows nothing; not even a glimpse of truth has happened to him. He is a pseudo master.
Truth cannot be given, it is already in you. It can be called forth, it can be provoked. A context can be created, a certain space can be created in which it rises in you and is no longer asleep, it becomes awakened.
The function of the master is far more complex than you think. It would be far easier, simpler, if truth could be conveyed. It cannot be, hence indirect ways and means must be devised.
The New Testament has the beautiful story of Lazarus. Christians missed the whole point of it. Christ is so unfortunate – he has fallen in with the wrong company. Not even a single Christian theologian has been able to discover the meaning of the story of Lazarus, his death and resurrection.
Lazarus dies. He is the brother of Mary Magdalene and Martha and a great devotee of Jesus. Jesus is far away. By the time he gets the information and the invitation, “Come immediately” two days have already passed, and by the time he reaches Lazarus four days have passed. But Mary and Martha wait for him – their trust is such. The whole village laughs at them. They are being stupid in others’ eyes because they keep the corpse in a cave; they watch day in, day out, guarding the corpse. The corpse has already started stinking; it is deteriorating.
The village people say, “You are fools! Jesus cannot do anything. When somebody is dead, he is dead!”
Jesus comes. He goes to the cave. He does not enter the cave; he stands outside and calls forth Lazarus. The people have gathered. They must be laughing, “This man seems to be crazy!”
Somebody says to him, “What are you doing? He is dead! He has been dead for four days. In fact, to enter the cave is difficult, his body is stinking. It is impossible! Whom are you calling?”
Unperturbed, Jesus shouts again and again, “Lazarus, come out!”
This crowd is in for a great surprise. Lazarus walks out of the cave, shaken, shocked, as if out of a great slumber, as if he had fallen into a coma. He himself cannot believe what happened, why he is in the cave.
This in fact is just a way of saying what the function of a master is. Whether Lazarus was really dead or not is not the point. Whether Jesus was capable of raising the dead or not is not the point. To get involved in these stupid questions is absurd. Only scholars can be so foolish. No man of understanding will think that this is something historical. It is far more! It is not a fact, it is a truth. It is not something that happens in time, it is something more: something that happens in eternity.
You are all dead. You are all in the same situation as Lazarus. You are all living in your dark caves. You are all stinking and deteriorating, because death is not something that comes one day, suddenly – you are dying every day. Since the day of your birth you have been dying. It is a long process: it takes seventy, eighty, ninety years to complete it. Each moment, something of you dies; something in you dies, but you are absolutely unaware of the whole situation. You go on as if you are alive. You go on living as if you know what life is.
The function of the master is to call forth: “Lazarus, come out of the cave! Come out of your grave! Come out of your death!”
The master cannot give you the truth but he can call forth the truth. He can stir something in you. He can trigger a process in you which will ignite a fire, a flame. You are truth, just so much dust has gathered around you. The function of the master is negative. He must give you a bath, a shower, so the dust disappears.
That’s exactly the meaning of Christian baptism. That’s what John the Baptist did in the River Jordan. People go on misunderstanding. Today also, baptism happens in the churches. It is meaningless.
John the Baptist prepared people for an inner bath. When they were ready he would take them symbolically into the River Jordan. This was only symbolic. Just as your orange clothes are symbolic, this bath in the River Jordan was symbolic – symbolic. The master can give you a bath. He can take the dust, the dust of centuries, away from you. And suddenly all is clear, all is clarity. That clarity is enlightenment.
The great master Daie says, “All the teachings of the sages, of the saints, of the masters, have expounded no more than this: they are commentaries on your sudden cry, ‘Ah, this!’”
When suddenly you are clear and a great joy and rejoicing arises in you, and your whole being, every fiber of your body, mind and soul dances. You say, “Ah, this! Alleluia!” a great shout of joy arises in your being. This is enlightenment. Suddenly stars come down from the rafters. You become part of the eternal dance of existence.
Auden says:
Dance till the stars come down from the rafters!
Dance, dance, dance till you drop!
Yes, it happens. It is not something that you have to do. It is something that, even if you want not to do, you will find it impossible. You will find it impossible to resist. You will have to dance.
The beauty of this, the beauty of now, the joy that existence is and the closeness of it… Yes, stars come down from the rafters. They are so close you can just touch them; you can hold them in your hands.
Daie is right. He says, “All the teachings the sages expounded are no more than commentaries on your sudden cry, ‘Ah, this!’” The whole heart says, “Aha!” And the silence that follows it, and the peace, and the joy, and the meeting, and the merger, and the orgasmic experience, the ecstasy!
Masters don’t teach the truth; there is no way to teach it. It is a transmission beyond scriptures, beyond words. It is a transmission. It is energy provoking energy in you. It is a kind of synchronicity.
The master has disappeared as an ego; he is pure joy. The disciple sits by the master’s side, slowly, slowly partaking of his joy, of his being, eating and drinking out of that eternal, inexhaustible source: aes dhammo sanantano. Then one day…and one cannot predict when that day will come; it is unpredictable. One day suddenly it has happened. A process has started in you which reveals the truth of your being to you. You come face to face with yourself. God is not somewhere else: he is now, here.
The masters illuminate and confirm realization. They illuminate in a thousand and one ways. They go on pointing toward truth, fingers pointing to the moon. There are many fools who start clinging to the fingers. By clinging to the fingers you will not see the moon, remember. There are even greater fools who start biting the fingers. That is not going to give you any nourishment. Forget the finger and look at