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Session 1: What is Knowing?
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We use “know” for many things: memory, belief, inference. Here, Knowing points to immediacy — this, before words. Not a conclusion, not a belief: presence itself.
“Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish opinions.”
“The truth is revealed by removing things that stand in its light — an art not unlike sculpture, in which the artist creates, not by building, but by hacking away.”
Let this session be subtractive: less commentary, more seeing. Return to what is undeniable now.
Full cups can’t receive. The Meiji tale says it cleanly: a professor visits Nan-in; the tea overflows; the point lands.
“It's full! No more will go in!”
“Like this cup, you are full — of your own ideas and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
Emptying the cup is pausing the pour: commentary, control, explanation. In that pause, clarity shows by itself.
This is knowing:
The sound of the heater. My fingers on the keyboard. Outside, through the window in front of me, the sun shines. Attention shifts. One thing after another comes into focus. I feel a bit nauseous. There's a vague pain in my lower back. There's the heater again. My eyes move from screen to keyboard to window.
Thought can yield knowledge (evidence-based) or belief (no evidence). Both are linguistic. Knowing is different: direct, wordless, already here. Let it be your anchor.
“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.”
“Find your own mind.”