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STUDENT B I 105Rosm: It all depends on your state of mind. If you have plentyof time, the first way is satisfactory. But if you are eager to reach thetop quickly, naturally one of the other ways is better. Needless tosay, to move rapidly requires more energy. Furthermore, when youexert yourself with passionate intensity you can expect untoward occurrences,frightening as well as pleasant-in other words, what youhave been experiencing.STUDENT: I would like to thank you very much. I also want to saythat as I am returning to the United States next week this will be mylast sesshin. While these sesshin have been painful in a number of ways,they have also been enormously revealing. Without this last one inparticular I wouldn't understand myself so well as I do, and I wouldn'tknow how to proceed further. I am very grateful to you for thetremendous help you have given me.2 I STUDENT B (MAN, AGE 45) I STUDENT: Mykoan is Mu.ROSHI: To realize the spirit of Mu you must, without being sidetracked,travel along an iron rail stretching to infinity. One halt, muchless many, will thwart enlightenment. The narrowest separation fromMu becomes a separation of miles. So take care, be vigilant! Don't letgo of Mu even for a moment while sitting, standing, walking, eating,or working.* * *STUDENT: I can't seem to get anywhere with Mu. I don't knowwhat I am supposed to understand or not understand.ROSHI : If you could truly say "I don't understand" after profoundreflection, that would be convincing, since in truth there is nothingto understand. In the deepest sense, we understand nothing. Whatcan be known by philosophers and scientists through reasoning isonly a fraction of the universe. If we imagine this fo untain pen I amholding to be the entire universe, what is intellectually knowable isthe very tip of the pen. Can any philosopher or scientist really saywhy flowers bloom or why spring follows winter? When we aren'tconceptualizing, the deepest part of us is functioning-STUDENT [interrupting] : Yes, I see that clearly, but-ROSID [continuing] : So if you can honestly say "I don't under-

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