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LETTER TO A MAN FROM KUMASAKAI I6Sdrink a cup of wine offered him, he believed he saw a baby snakeinside his cup. Not wishing to embarrass his host by drawingattention to it, he bravely swallowed it. Upon returning hornehe felt severe pains in his stomach. Many remedies were applied butin vain, and the man, now grievously ill, felt he was about to die. Hisfriend, hearing of his condition, asked him once more to his house.Seating his sick friend in the same place, he again offered him a cupof wine, telling him it was medicine. As the ailing man raised hiscup to drink, once again he saw a baby snake in it. This time hedrew his host's attention to it. Without a word the host pointed tothe ceiling above his guest, where a bow hWlg. Suddenly the sickman realized that the "baby snake" was the reflection of the hangingbow. Both men looked at each other and laughed. The pain of thesick man vanished instandy and he recovered his health.Becoming a Buddha is analogous to this. The Patriarch Yoka said:"When you realize the true nature of the Wliverse you know thatthere is neither subjective nor objective reality. At that very momentkarmic formations which would carry you to the lowest hell arewiped out." This true nature is the root-substance of every sentientbeing. Man, however, can't bring himself to believe that his ownMind is itself the Great Completeness realized by the Buddha, so heclings to superficial forms and looks for truth outside this Mind,striving to become a Buddha through ascetic practices. But as theillusion of an ego-self does not vanish, man must Wldergo intensesuffering in the Three Worlds. He is like the one who became sickbelieving he had swallowed a baby snake. Various remedies were ofno avail, but he recovered instandy upon realizing the basic truth.So just look into your own Mind-no one can help you with nostrums.In a sutra the Buddha said: "If you would get rid of yourfoe, you have only to realize that that foe is delusion." All phenomenain the world are illusory, they have no abiding substance. Sentientbeings no less than Buddhas are like images reflected in water. Onewho does not see the true nature of things mistakes shadow for substance. That is to say, in zazen the state of emptiness and quiet whichresults from the diminution of thought is often confused with one'sFace before one's parents were hom. But this serenity is also a reflectionupon the water. You must advance beyond the stage whereyour reason is of any avail. In this extremity of not knowing what to