Sadhguru explains a Zen master’s seemingly confusing statement on choosing the right path.
Q: Sadhguru, a disciple once asked a Zen master, “Is it best for me to walk the straight path, or would it be better for me to choose the crooked path on which my spirit leads me?” The master replied, “He who takes the straight path north, sees the north. He who takes the straight path south, sees the south. He who takes the straight path east, sees the east. He who takes the straight path west, sees the west. And he who walks the crooked path sees all the directions.” Can you explain this answer to us?
Sadhguru: This was said because people were getting identified with different dogmas. When the Zen master said “a straight path,” he was talking about a dogmatic path – following scriptures and teachings in a certain way. So, if you are facing north, it goes only north. If you go west, it goes only west. East goes only east, and south goes only south. If you take a crooked path, you will see all the directions, but you will not get anywhere.
If you take a crooked path, you get a good sightseeing tour, but then you are back in the same place. So, are you here to do sightseeing, or are you here to get somewhere? That is the question. If you think a crooked path means that you can afford to be crooked, there is no such path. You can take a bend in the path, but you have to be straight. Do not think that a Zen master is approving your crookedness. If you are crooked, there is no path. If you are straight, everything is a path. Fundamentally, there is no such thing as a straight path or a crooked path because the spiritual process is about turning inward.
The spiritual process will happen to you not because you look up, down, or in the four different directions, but because you look inward. What is inward is dimensionless. That which is dimensionless can neither be approached by a straight path nor a crooked path, but only by those who are straight within themselves. Do not worry whether the path is straight or crooked, up or down – those are all created just to make you feel a little adventurous.
Actually, there is no path. You have projected your whole life out, which is illusory. If you stop the projection, everything is inside. In a way, that is what meditation means. If you simply close your eyes and sit here, initially, the outside insanity plays itself out. But if you sit in the right kind of presence, then after your outside nonsense has played itself out, there will be no other distraction.
If all distractions are taken away and you just look at anything, you will fall in love with that. If you look at an insect, a flower, a twig, a mountain, a rock, or even a grain of sand without any distraction, you will absolutely fall in love with it. That is what meditation means. So, you do not go on a straight path, nor do you go on a crooked one. You need to learn to be straight with yourself. And do not try to go anywhere – simply be here and it will happen because there is nowhere to go.
When we utter the word “path,” your mind naturally thinks there is somewhere to go. There is nowhere to go. That does not mean stagnation. “Something” means a certain quantity. “Nothing” is not a quantity – it is a dimension which is measureless. It is a possibility which is beginningless and endless. Somewhere is too small a place; it is not worth going there. Nowhere is a limitless space. So, if you go north, you will go somewhere. If you go south, you will go somewhere. If you go east or west, you will go somewhere. If you go around, you will only go somewhere. That is not our intention. We want to go nowhere because the journey is from the limited to the unlimited. The only thing that is unlimited is nothingness, and nowhere is the only unlimited space.
So, are we just enjoying the circus of using logic in all kinds of funny ways? You asked the question because your mind is still in such a state that every day, it thinks up a new way of avoiding it. Every day, you come up with a new reason for why it cannot be done. You like this logical mind that seems to come up with a lot of innovations to keep you within its limitations. So, let us look at it from the perspective of the logical mind.
The intellect understands that we exist within certain limitations. And you also know you have to go beyond these limitations. Many times, you have crossed some limitations, and you immediately found the next range of limitations. If you apply the intellect with sufficient intensity, it will clearly realize that it is not the vehicle to take you beyond. If you do not know how to transcend the intellect, at least frustrate the intellect. If you frustrate the intellect, it will lie low. When it lies low, we can do things with you.
Even if you have not been initiated into anything, if you just remain with your eyes closed for long enough, you will see that the activity of the mind will start dying down after some time. Initially, it gets hyped up because it wants you to open your eyes since the mind cannot survive without some extra information. It needs some new gossip every day; otherwise it cannot thrive. If you simply remain with eyes closed for long enough, the intellect will lie low. It will be like your pet dog. We do not want to kill it. We need it. But we need it only when we need it. Otherwise, we want it to shut up and sit there.
Once your intellect lies low and you give it enough time, true intelligence begins to function. What you call intelligence and what you call the source of creation are not different. Once true intelligence begins to function within you, you are naturally a blissful being – there is no other way to be. It is not something you aspire for. It is not something you create. It is the way it is. Only when you are blissful by your own nature, are you willing to drop into the abyss of nothingness. Then you are truly ready to go nowhere.
When you say “I am seeking the boundless,” you are talking about falling into a bottomless pit, which is not dangerous. Only a pit with a bottom is dangerous. If there is no bottom to the pit, what is the problem in jumping? You will be eternally suspended, unharmed, and untouched by anything. Only when you fall into the bottomless pit, are you truly blissful. Otherwise, you are constantly hankering to get somewhere. You cannot go anywhere. Wherever you go, whether you go north or south, all your experience of life is happening only within you. This is not a trap – this is the door.
