Entering the Way is not difficult, But you must not love, or hate, or choose, or reject. If you want to know what Zen teaches, there it is, summarized in two lines. In the first line, Sosan is referring to Buddhahood, our Buddha-nature; in the second, he explains what makes us able to see it--or not. Buddha-nature is the nature we all have, even before birth, even after death. Buddha-mind. The mind of rocks. The mind of the Way. Following the great Way is not at all difficult: trees grow in it, fish swim in it.

We all follow it--even when we make mistakes. The Way is right in front of our eyes, right under our noses and under our zafus. And this has not changed since ancient times, since Bodhidharma, since Buddha, since before Buddha. "From ancient times down to today," writes Master Jiun, himself an ancient, "the great Way has not changed. It is." Then he adds, "The head on top, the legs below to either side." It's a little like when Master Dogen returned from China and was asked, "What have you discovered about Buddhism?" He replied simply, "Eyes horizontal, nose vertical." This is not difficult at all.

But understanding and practicing it is not so easy. Entering the Way is not difficult. Sure. But we could also say, "Entering the Way is not easy." Trees follow the Way; rivers, rocks, birds and fish follow it. For them, it's not hard. But for human beings, it's not always easy, because of "small mind," the mind of selection and choice. With your personal mind, your personal consciousness, your preferences, your desire to stay in bed when everybody's getting up, you can become complicated.

You're looking for love, you want to be spoiled: "I like the zazen posture, but not the ceremonies, or samu--why should I do samu? I want to relax." There are people who have been practicing for twenty years with this attitude. They're wasting their time. They'd be better off going bowling. Other people see the dojo for the first time, get into zazen posture, hear the bell, and their lives are changed forever. But for people who don't even know that the Way exists, it's very difficult. Very difficult also for those who know that the Way exists but have no idea of how to go about it. So they turn towards Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, the Church, Zen, Sufism, macrobiotics, New Age practices.

There are many roads one can follow but going from one to another makes the practice of the Way very difficult.