‘”I don’t understand anything” is exactly the point of Zen. We Zen monks apply ourselves day after day, year after year. to the study of this unthinkable point. But I am not talking about Zen Buddhism, religion, philosophy, or science – just NOW!
(strike) Can you hear this sound? Who is hearing this sound.? Who is the master of hearing? You Americans can hear this sound. We Japanese also can hear this sound. So the master of hearing is “without distinction of race (American or Japanese), creed (Christian, Theosophist, or Buddhist), sex (male or female), caste, or color.” Probably “the nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity” is hearing this sound. But we can neither see nor catch “the master of hearing.”
Some of you may think that there is no such thing to be called “master of hearing.” But actually we are hearing this sound (strike). So there must be some “master of hearing” in our body, in our mind, somewhere! But we cannot explain what it is. We wonder about this, and enter into a deep doubt.
This doubt is very good for Zen work. Doubt and doubt! Inquire and inquire! March and march! To the unthinkable point! Ask, “Who is hearing this sound?” until you reach the bottom. Then, all of a sudden, when the bottom is broken, you will realize what the “unexplained laws of nature” really are, and you will be able to realize “the powers latent in man.”‘ (Eloquent Silence)
Shundo David Haye 