Nothing is Concealed

Once Shishuang was in his room and a monk just outside the room’s window called to him, “Master, why is it that I’m so close, yet can’t see your face.” 

Shishuang said, “Nothing in the whole world is concealed.” 

I like this quirky monk, seeing his difficulty so concretely in the physical world.

“Why is it that I’m so close, yet can’t see your face?”

Seems to me that the monk must have been practicing diligently, throwing himself into zazen wholeheartedly, as if his hair were on fire.

And coming so close to the true face, ever so close. And yet there seemed to be a barrier.

I hear him imploring Shishuang, “Why can’t I see the my true face? Why this subtle separation? What can I do? How I can leap the barrier?”

Shishuang speaks through the eye of kensho. “Nothing in the whole world is concealed.”

The truth of Zen is hidden in the open. No eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind.

The window and the wall, the passionate yearning for true nature and the barrier – the truth you’ve been seeking for.