Once a person has reached he almost forgets, in his celebration, the long journey, the long search towards self-realization. Perhaps that is the reason why Bodhidharma cannot see those two simple defects. Except for those two defects, his every word is absolutely sincere and authentic. It is not a word of knowledge; it is an outpouring of innocence. He is not speaking, he is exposing his whole being to you.

But I have to warn you on those two points. One is his continuous antagonism towards the arhatas. And second is: In the beginning I was thinking it must have been the fault of the disciple who was taking the notes, but it is so continuously repeated that there is every possibility it was not the disciple’s fault: he was using the word mind in a wrong way.

Because in English there is only one word, the Theosophists and the Christian Scientists have managed a certain device: for the ordinary human mind they use a small m, and for the universal mind, which is equivalent to no-mind, they use a capital M. Certainly the universal mind is not your mind. As far as you are concerned, your mind has disappeared and you have entered into a state of no-mind. On these points I will correct his sutras. I cannot allow such a beautiful statement of the truth to have even a small blemish.

The sutra:

That which follows is witnessed on the way.

He is saying that the sutras that are going to follow are not his philosophical standpoint; they are his experiences on the way. That which follows is witnessed on the way: I will be saying only that which I have witnessed. It is not my belief, it is not my doctrine, it is not my dogma. It is my absolutely indubitable experience. It has an intrinsic authority. Whoever follows the way will find these same sutras opening their doors, their secrets, their perfume to the traveler, if he is going the right way.

These sutras can be used as a criterion. If nothing like this happens to you, that means you are not on the right path. Then your river has entered into some desert, where it can be lost without reaching the ocean.

He goes on to say:

It is beyond the ken of arhats and mortals.

I have to correct him. He needed a man like me. It is not beyond the ken of the arhats. It is certainly beyond the ken of so-called saints and the mortals, the people who are still living with the idea that this life is all and that with death everything ends…these are the mortals. The so-called saints whose intentions cannot be doubted are sincere people, but they have fallen into wrong ways. They have become followers, imitators. They have ideals in their mind cultivated by the society, by the tradition, and they are trying in every possible way to fulfill those ideals, knowing perfectly well that a buddha is born only once.