Nothing that he can do is right. And this state is called technically in Zen the “great doubt.” And the master works to bring about that state.

And what Zen proposes to do is to give us training in the practice of spontaneous action.

Because the question comes from the order of words, the answer comes from the order of nature; from lǐ .

Chinese language has another word for the actual order of nature, and this word is lǐ . This is a peculiarly interesting term, because its original meaning is “the markings in jade,” or “the grain in wood,” or “the fiber in muscle.” And it has been translated by the great student of Chinese thought, Joseph Needham, as “organic pattern.” But it refe... See more