Zen and the Mystery of Not Knowing: What Is the Meaning of This Moment?

A long time ago, a Zen Buddhist monk asked his master what the essential meaning of Buddhism is. The master, known as Mazu and one of the most influential Zen masters of ancient China, replied with another question: "What is the meaning of this moment?” Now, if we truly ask ourselves about the meaning of this moment, everyone intuitively gets it immediately.

So, what is the meaning of THIS moment?

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Don’t know.

If we are really honest with ourselves, and if we are not entangled with thoughts that immediately come up, suggesting some kind of intellectual answer or explanation, we have to come to the conclusion that we really don’t know.

We don’t know.

I am not speaking about being ignorant or about a lack of knowledge in a certain area, because we have been brought up getting punished for not knowing. In school, if we didn’t know how to answer a question, we’d get a bad mark. Or in our work environment, we’d face disadvantages if we couldn’t come up with an answer. We’ve been conditioned by society to always know, to always have an answer, even if it’s stupid. Having a stupid answer is more accepted than not having any answer. Because when you give a stupid answer, the other person at least has something to work with.

They’ll be able to put a label on you and remember you as being stupid. They may still be angry with you or have a negative reaction towards your answer, but this way, at least, they will feel safe. They’ll be able to integrate what you’ve said into their already existing worldview, so they don’t have to question themselves in any way, and they’ll be able to comfortably stay within the “known.”

For most people, it’s quite scary to leave what they know and open themselves to what is not known, to the unknown dimension of life. Nothing is scarier than opening oneself to what’s not known—leaving all security behind, every mental construct we created to protect ourselves from reality, from the world, and fully diving into the unknown. So, we typically stay within the known aspects of life.

And even if we pick up spirituality and get involved in these teachings, no matter what tradition one is following, we just expand upon what we know. Before, we had a material worldview; now we have a spiritual one.

We may have a different understanding of how the world works, we may be able to recite the holy scriptures and remember everything the Buddha or another enlightened being said about the workings of the world, but we have not really left behind the mechanism that makes us see everything as separate. The mechanism that makes us think we are not enlightened, that we are not the Absolute, and that makes us forget about our true nature. Because if we want to do that, we have to leave the known behind and enter into the Unknown.

What is the meaning of this moment?

Before we remember our story—like "I am such and such a person, at such and such location, doing whatever"—we become really still, silent, and open.

Instead of grasping the next intellectual answer that comes up, we return our attention to the immediacy of the present moment.

And we just abide there.

We’re letting go of the need to come up with a good explanation or to make sense of this moment; we’re leaving everything behind that would distort our perception of this moment—our ideas and beliefs, the stories we’ve been told of how the world works, our dreams and hopes for the future, even the expectation of coming up with an answer to this question.

We let our attention sink into this effortless presence of the moment, becoming completely empty of what the moment is not.

We just abide in the vast, open space of not knowing.

And there will be all kinds of thoughts coming up in your mind if you do that.

Your mind will tell you many reasons why it’s not safe to abide in the unknown.

It will tell you that it’s a waste of time since there is so much more useful you could be doing; even if you are a spiritual seeker, it will suggest that there are other practices that are much more effective, practices that can get you somewhere—somewhere to a place called enlightenment, which is, of course, not just here in this simple moment right now.

That’s why Zen Masters talk about the importance of having great courage in your spiritual practice. To have the courage to let go of all your thoughts that insist you are not there yet, that you are not enlightened yet, that you are not worthy of enlightenment yet; that there is so much more to do for you to maybe become worthy of this “state.”

Although the unknown is already here, has always been here, not depending on any effort or such, we’re trying really hard to escape it. Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn said that he doesn’t teach Buddhism; he only teaches "don’t know.” That’s what all Zen koans point to; that’s what all self-inquiry and all spiritual practice point to.

“What’s the sound of one hand clapping?” is a famous koan. If we try to answer it with our rational minds, we won’t get the right answer. When we practice with a koan like this, we have to use the question to fully dive into the unknown, to leave everything behind, and to only keep this question.

The same is true with self-inquiry: “Who am I?” If we ask this question and don’t try to answer it intellectually, we basically dissolve ourselves in not knowing.

“What’s the meaning of this moment?”

We don’t know.

And this does not mean that we stay passive, that we abide in ignorance, or that we shut ourselves off from the world. Actually, it’s a highly active “state.” We dive deeper into not knowing by letting every answer, every concept, every opinion, and every point of view dissolve in this not-knowing mind.

We don’t get stuck with any particular idea, not even the idea of not knowing. We don’t just keep the thought “okay, I don’t know anything” in our minds, but we are diving into this vast, empty space of nothingness that transcends all concepts and ideas.

And naturally, an answer will come up.

It won’t be a premeditated answer; it won’t be something we derived from our past conditioning. It will be a spontaneous and direct response to the present moment.

“When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep.”

There will be a direct and natural response to what the present moment is asking. There is another very famous story of a monk and a master, where the monk asked the master why the founder of Zen came to China. This question is commonly used to ask Zen masters about true nature, about the Absolute Truth. They don’t want an intellectual answer on why the founder of Zen, whose name was Bodhidharma, left India and went to China to spread Buddhism. 

They’re basically asking, what is this? What is enlightenment? Who am I?

Joshu, the Zen Master in this story, simply pointed to the outside and said, “The cypress tree in the garden.”

He didn’t come up with an explanation, saying that everything is the One or any other spiritual concept; no, he was way more radical than that and simply pointed to the Truth—the cypress tree in the garden. That’s it.

If this seems confusing to you, you’re doing great. This is exactly where Zen Master Joshu wanted to point his student. Nothing from your past that you’ve brought along with you has prepared you for this answer. Everything that you think you know will block you from "getting it."

That’s why you seem confused. Because you haven’t let go of your conditioning, you haven’t let go of trying to know the answer, you haven’t let go of thinking about the answer and whether it’s right or wrong. But if you let go of everything, and only ask yourself what this answer—the cypress tree in the backyard—means, and you dive into this vast open space of not knowing, you will finally realize it.

Everything is already the truth; everything has always been the truth. There is nothing separate from absolute reality, from Buddha. That’s why Zen Masters usually don’t come up with intellectual answers about the Absolute, Buddha, God, or whatever you want to call it. They won’t explain concepts or complex ideas about spirituality and such. No, they will immediately and directly point to the Truth right here in THIS moment.

So, I ask you, what is the meaning of THIS moment?

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I wish you all the best on your path. 

Your friend of the way, bye.

P.S. “Meditate as if you are already awake, because you are.” This is the premise of my new online course on the fundamentals of spiritual awakening, where I explain the core practices of any spiritual teaching. Click here to learn more.