ZEN KOANS: THE OLD LADY AND THE STRAIGHT PATH TO TANZAAN SHRINE

सबसे पहले जो छोड़ा तुमने, वही रास्ता सही था,
जिसको तुमने मूर्ख जाना, वही सही आदमी था |

There is a Zen story. There was a wanderer Zen monk who asked an old lady, "What is the way of TANZAAN Shrine?" 

The old lady replied, "Keep moving in the straightest path you know and keep moving till you reach there, there are no bends in the way to Tanzaan!" 

This, the monk started moving. Then the old Lady murmured, "This monk will also reach Tanzaan temple, not the ultimate Tanzaan!" 

Master Joshu heard this line and wanted to test the lady. Joshu asked her, "Where is the path to Sumiyoshi Taisha shrine?" 

The old lady replied, "Keep moving in the straightest path you know and keep moving till you reach there, there are no bends in the way to Tanzaan!" 

Joshu wrote in his memoir, "The old lady knew the path, she was already present at all the Shrines I know and probably where I have not been as well!" 

The problem with people everywhere, who are unhappy, unwise and full of conflict and no peace, is that they think that they are too smart, that they can be happy and there can be a conflict less peace. 

A mixture of confusion and misunderstanding along with the sheer arrogance of wisdom is what keeps the man in the perpetual space of sadness. 

The Egyptian story of God says, that when you will meet God, you will be surprised to see him. You will say, "Oh! I have seen you 100 times! You were God! all my life I searched for you, but I never asked you!" 

This is the state of affairs in this world. Man thinks he is so smart, and other people are not. This feeling of uniqueness is so common in everyone. Everyone thinks he is unique, and this sole feature makes them common and mediocre. 

What does the old lady mean by "Straightest path"? 

Which temple she was talking about? 

The knowers will not say, the pretenders will think its common sense, the non-knowers will pretend they know it. That is how different people treat truth. 

Let me be the fourth category, the fourth Wayer. I will say it, I will try. But then I will leave in hope that those who know, do not need it, those who do not know, will never know. Those who pretend, they cannot know. Those who are seekers will one day find it and say, Oh yes. I know. 

Straightest path is the one you say is of naive. Straightest path is the one you left long back. Straightest path is one you said, "Chutiya log chalta hai iss par", or "only fools travel on these paths". Straightest path is the path of honesty, integrity and content with existence. Running but inside, standing still with a feeling of duty towards life. I am running because in running I can feel myself standing still. Soul is always felt in transit. 

Your observation has been, only fools are honest. Dishonest people get posts, get likes, get money, get everything they want. Honest people suffer. That is what you saw. 

But just introspect, whosoever you met, were any of them honest? They were honest sometime back and now they were repenting for their honesty. That man is not honest who regrets being honest. That man is a pretender. 

A true honest man is not a pretender. He is innocent. He does not have in his mind, interpretations of his sorrow. Not futile explanations to explain, "Why is he sad?" He remains content in his actions and intent. He says, "I mean well". He says, "If that is how honesty is reciprocated in this world, so be it, I do not do it for reciprocity, I do it for pleasure!" 

"My Pleasure!" says the honest man, after every honest confession. He says the harshest words in such s sweet tone that the people he criticizes, get confused whether to be angry or whether to introspect. 

सबसे पहले जो छोड़ा तुमने, वही रास्ता सही था,

जिसको तुमने मूर्ख जाना, वही सही आदमी था |

The Tanzaan temple means, a temple where eternal and perpetual peace prevails. Where the man reaches to stay not to deviate or move away from. There is no destination other than Tanzaan. 

Human beings, till the point they depend on Dopamine for their pleasures, they will never reach a destination. 

They become bored of their own destiny, their destinations. 

Mahatma Gandhi writes, "All my life I have wandered and reached nowhere but returned back to home!"

Then why you moved away? Why you could not be satisfied with the destination when it was your beginning? 

Because human beings always try to externalize happiness. 

"Mai ye paa lunga, phir dekhna meri khushi! "

"Mai bas ye ban jaaun, phir dekhna mera rola"

And then you achieve it, and then you complain about the same thing. An IAS complains about the harshness of his job. A researcher complains about the mental stress. 

A non-acheiver lives in a perpetual state of loss. An aspirant who could not be IAS lives in perpetual loss. Why does he do so? He never had it, how did he lose it? 

Loss is strictly something which was yours in the first place. He did not lose it. It is just, he could have got it, but he did not. 

Is this that a worry? Probably it is for the person. Tanzaan is not for those people, who will treat Tanzaan just like a normal worldly goal. 

Tanzaan is for the one, who has understood the nature of achievements and non-achievements. Whose source of validation does not exist external to himself. 

This one will remain the same inside even after becoming IAS, even the same after becoming the best researcher in the world, the best thinker in the world. Even in the palace that he owns, will he live like it is not his, but it is. 

The wise never own anything. The wise only owns the Tanzaan. 

And the way of Tanzaan, as the old lady says, is straightest path you know. 

With the most clear intent in mind, without thinking what will happen, who will be happy, who will be angry, what will be the outcome, he does what he intends, is the man who resides perpetually in the Tanzaan. 

Sumiyoshi Tasha shrine, Tanzaan shrine, all are same. 

The shrine-ness Or the temple-ness is important. Not the exact temple. If you could not make your mind a temple when visiting a temple, no use of visiting a temple. 

The region above you eyes is called temple in anatomy. There lies the visible effects of stress, pressure, happiness, sorrow, joy, pleasure. 

To make your temples, a temple is the task of spirituality. It is the task of Reaching the Tanzaan temple. 

Master Joshu instantly tested the old lady and found that they Lady was enlightened. She knew what she was talking about. She had in her heart, the Ultimate Tanzaan. 

Fools will reduce this story again to idealistic or faltu-gyan. Fools will again try to reduce this such that, they somehow already knew it. How do you know it, if you do not have it? 

But the master can only try. The knowers don't even try to educate the fools. The unknowers never seek. The seekers only wander and never reach. And Finally the majority, The pretenders die trying to convince others that they know.