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\u201c\u2018Before you think who you are, you are you,\u2019 means you are exactly the universe, exactly, harmoniously intimate, no gap between. You must jump the gap between you and universe.\u201d<\/span>
\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\u201cHow can I jump the gap?\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cWith prayer.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cI am to use prayer to go beyond self-consciousness?\u201d I asked.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>I had left Catholicism and the reliance for salvation on anypower outside of \u201cme\u201d years before and thought that the essence of Zen practice was not to rely on God or anybody.<\/span>
\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\u201cYes, of course,\u201d Roshi continued, \u201calways you are thinking, observing, calculating. This is ego. Your ego is calculating how to go beyond ego. But ego cannot go beyond ego, always holding <\/span>tightly to something.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cSo I should pray?\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cYes,\u201d Roshi began to smile. \u201cYou know the story of the octopus. Japanese fishermen in old days would catch the octopus by throwing a chicken neck tied to a line into the sea. Then octopus would come and grab the chicken neck and fishermen would pull a little bit. The octopus holds on tighter. The fishermen pull more and the octopus holds on tighter.Finally, the octopus is hauled onto the fishing boat. But fishermen don\u2019t use any hooks. From the beginning the octopus is free. Let go any time, anyway.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cOkay. So I am like the octopus and I should pray. But Roshi, if there is nothing outside, no gap between me and the universe, to whom should I pray?\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\u00a0<\/span>
\u201c\u2018Pray\u2019 means just pray. No object there. Just \u2018Help!\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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