What is the fasting of the mind? If you merge all your intentions into a singularity and maintain the unity of your will, you will come to hear with the rational mind rather than with the ears. Further, you will come to hear with the ch’i – the primal spirit, the vital energy – rather than with the rational mind. For the ears are limited to listening, and the rational mind is limited to its preconceptions. But the ch’i is an abiding emptiness that awaits the arising of things. And the Dao alone is what gathers in this formless emptiness. And to merge with the Dao in this emptiness is ‘fasting of the mind’… Before I began my meditation, it was only ‘I’ that was real. But as soon as I came to dwell in stillness, it turned out that ‘myself’ had never even begun to exist! This is what is meant by 'becoming emptiness'.

To the Taoist mentality, the aimless, empty life does not suggest anything depressing. On the contrary, it suggests the freedom of clouds and mountain streams, wandering nowhere, of flowers in impenetrable canyons, beautiful for no one to see, and of the ocean surf forever washing the sand, to no end.

For Zen students the most important thing is not to be dualistic. Our “original mind” includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. You should not lose your self-sufficient state of mind. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.

Le Zen sous-entend que l'on suive e mouvement de la vie, sans valoir ni l'arrêter ni interrompre son cours. C'est la raison pour laquelle on le définit quelquefois comme « un chemin sans détours », ou un « le fait d'aller droit devant soi ». Une telle attitude suppose une compréhension immédiate des choses en tant que vie et mouvement et non simplement en tant que sensations et concepts, lesquels ne sont que les symboles morts d'une réalité vivante. POur cette raison, Takuan commente l'arte de l'escrime (kendo) — un art profondément imprégné des principes zen — en ces termes:

« Cette qualité, qu'on peut désigner par l'attitude mentale de ''non-ingérence'', constitue l'élément le plus vital tant dans l'art de l'escrime, que dans le Zen. Si deux actions sont distantes, même de l'épaisseur d'un cheveu, il y a interruption. »

Lorsqu'on tape dans ses mains, le son se dégage immédiatement. Le son n'attend, ni ne pense avant de sortir. Il n'y a aucun état intermédiaireL un mouvement succède à un autre, sans l'intervention du mental conscient. Si vous êtes indécis et si vous réfléchissez à ce qu'il convient de faire, au moment où votre adversaire est prêt à vous abattre, vous lui laissez la place, c'est-à-dire la possibiliité de vous porter un coup fatal. Que votre défense suive l'attaque, sans intervalle, et il n'y aura pas deux mouvements séparés appelés attaque et défense.

Chao-Chou asked, “What is the Tao?” The master [Nan-ch’üan] replied, “Your ordinary consciousness is the Tao.” “How can one return into accord with it?” “By intending to accord you immediately deviate.” “But without intention, how can one know the Tao?” “The Tao,” said the master, “belongs neither to knowing nor to not knowing. Knowing is false understanding; not knowing is blind ignorance. If you really understand the Tao beyond doubt, it’s like the empty sky. Why drag in right and wrong?”2 [56b]

A mind full of preconceived ideas, subjective intentions, or habits is not open to things as they are. That is why we practice zazen: to clear our mind of what is related to something else.

The practice of Zen mind is beginner’s mind. The innocence of the first inquiry — what am I? — is needed throughout Zen practice. The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities. It is the kind of mind which can see things as they are, which step by step and in a flash can realize the original nature of everything.

If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.

Enlightenment is not some good feeling or some particular state of mind. The state of mind that exists when you sit in the right posture is, itself, enlightenment. If you cannot be satisfied with the state of mind you have in zazen, it means your mind is still wandering about. Our body and mind should not be wobbling or wandering about. In this posture there is no need to talk about the right state of mind. You already have it. This is the conclusion of Buddhism.

"The first and foremost aim of Zen, consequently, is to break the net of our concepts -which is why it has been termed by some a philosophy of "no mind." A number of schools of Occidental psychological therapy hold that what we all most need an are seeking is a meaning for our lives. For some, this may be a help; but all it helps is the intellect, and when the intellect sets to work on life with its names and categories, recongnitions of relationship and definitions of meaning, what is inwardmost is readily lost. Zen, on the contrary, holds the realization that life and the sense of life are antecent to meaning; the idea being to let life come and not name it. It will then push you right back to where you live- where you are, and not where you named."

Zen practice is to open up our small mind.

The problem with open-mindedness is that it can become empty-mindedness

When the mind is free of any thought or judgment, it is still and acts like a mirror. Then and only then can we know things as they are. AWARENESS

Chuang-tzu: ‘‘The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror; it grasps nothing; it refuses nothing; it receives, but does not keep.