Gutei's finger
a thought grenade if ever there was one.
unMind, my new book, is a graphical retelling of some of the most powerful spiritual teachings that have emerged from India in the last century. This journal is another such attempt at bringing Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Ramesh Balsekar’s advaita teachings to a wider audience.
What’s so awesome about Zen koans1?
That the same story can be interpreted in multiple ways depending on the seeker’s spiritual stage. And each interpretation nudges them a little closer to the truth.
So, the stories work every time, no matter who is reading.
This story, just a few sentence long, is a microcosm of all that needs to be known, but also serves as a nifty little guide to those who are starting out.
There was a Zen master named Gutei. When he was asked what he teaches, he would raise a single finger. (What does that mean?)
One day a visitor asked Gutei’s attendant what the master taught. The attendant too raised a single finger. Hearing this, Gutei called in the attendant and without any warning cut off the attendant’s finger! The attendant starts screaming and runs away. Gutei calls out to him, and when the attendant turns around, Gutei raises a single finger. At this moment, the boy becomes instantly enlightened.
When Gutei was about to die, his last words were “I obtained one-finger Zen from master Tenryû and used it all my life but still did not exhaust it.”
Hearing this, Gutei called in the attendant and without any warning cut off the attendant’s finger
Let’s address the elephant in the room: Why did Gutei cut his attendant’s finger?
One can’t be sure (again multiple interpretations possible), but I look at it like this: those who don’t possess a constant (steady) Zen, shouldn’t teach Zen. The raised finger is a meaningless gesture when the attendant raises it (but it is the only teaching needed when Zen master Gutei raises it). The attendant was wrong in raising a finger without having the Great Realisation. So the finger was cut. (Whether you like it or not, this is Zen master justice. The master isn’t concerned about your pleasure or pain, he wants the truth revealed to you. So he cut the finger but gave the attendant an invaluable piece of truth).
When he was asked what he teaches, he would raise a single finger.
An accomplished Zen master would say that any attempt to decipher the raised finger is incorrect since anything that can be decoded can’t be that. Zen koans are to be felt at a deeper level beyond mental processes and hence the understanding goes beyond the mind.
All that is true. But. I feel a teacher when approached by a varied set of seekers (at different levels of understanding) always tries to give something to to help them get closer to the truth (truth that can’t be possibly described, or decoded but only experienced).
Gutei was raising the single finger for everyone to learn from.
So here’s one interpretation of Gutei’s finger.
When Gutei raises a single finger he means: there is only ONE, there is no other.2
The illusion of the “I” and the “other” is the obstacle to realising this oneness. The false identification of the mind and body with the ego-sense “I” creates the “other” (all that is not the “I”) and the world is born (a figment of imagination the “I” entertains itself with).
But the “I” isn’t real. So if the “I” isn’t real, how can the world be real?
What is real then?
The world is ephemeral. A stone turns to dust and then to a pebble and then to dirt and then to stone again — constantly changing, dying, disfiguring, fragmenting, gathering, getting reborn and bursting into smithereens.
Something that’s always changing can’t be real. Something that is, and then isn’t there can’t be real. Real (or the truth) is what remains unchanged, what always is.
Find out what always is. Find out what has been, is and will always be. That’s what Gutei is urging you to do.
If this ONENESS is understood, no other understanding is needed. Why? Because no need is felt to understand anything else.
All doubts are cleared in one go.
Like it happened for Gutei’s attendant. (At this moment, the boy becomes instantly enlightened.)
I obtained one-finger Zen from master Tenryû and used it all my life but still did not exhaust it.
Why didn’t he exhaust it? Because once self-realisation occurs, it can’t be taken away. Once the reality is revealed to you, the unreal can never make a comeback.
Gutei’s finger Zen is to be read again and again as you progress through various stages of spiritual development. Don’t rely on anyone’s word for what it means. Go find your own.
Zen koans are short-story form puzzles that are meant to be an aid to seekers to help them unravel greater truths. For the Zen master, koans are a surgical tool to cut through years of conditioning and reveal to the student what would otherwise take a long time to uncover.
Non-duality (advaita) teachings are also raising the same single finger (pointing at the same oneness). Not surprising.