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96 / YASUTANI ' S INTERVIEWS WITH WESTERNERShim. Still, it is possible that here and there I have failed to capturethe full nuance or flavor of a comment by the roshi, and for any suchomissions I asswne responsibility.y asutani-roshi consented to the publication of this material onlyupon my assuring him that it would do much to put into correctfocus the numerous distortions of Zen teaching current in the West.The one condition he imposed was that no solutions to koans berevealed, as they might hamper students who later practiced under aroshi. This condition has been complied with.THE INTERVIEWS I 1 I STUDENT A (W OM­AN, AGE 6o ) I STUDENT: I feel myself a prisoner of myego and want to escape. Can I do it through zazen? Would youplease tell me the purpose of zazen?Rosm: Let us speak of mind frrst. Your mind can be compared toa mirror, 1 which reflects everything that appears before it. From thetime you begin to think, to feel, and to exert your will, shadows arecast upon your mind which distort its reflections. This condition wecall delusion, which is the fundamental sickness of human beings.The most serious effect of this sickness is that it creates a sense ofduality, in consequence of which you postulate "I" and "not-1." Thetruth is that everything is One, and this of course is not a numericalone. Falsely seeing oneself confronted by a world of separate existences,this is what creates antagonism, greed, and, inevitably, suffering.The purpose of zazen is to wipe away from the mind these shadowsor defilements so that we can intimately experience our solidaritywith all life. Love and compassion then naturally and spontaneouslyflow forth.* * *STUDENT: I am sitting in shikan-taza as you have instructed me.1 The roshi, like the Sixth Patriarch, Eno, in his famous stanza, is comparing mindnot to the fo rm of a mirror, for mind is formless, but to the mirror's powers ofreflection. Eno's verse reads: "Fundamentally no bodhi-tree emts/ Nor the frameof a mirror bright. J Since all is voidness from the beginning f Where can the dustalight?"