Zen's barrier that has no door
As one might expect, Zen for the beginner is overwhelmingly an experience with the language of Zen, not the object which the words of Zen point to; which goes beyond language, including everything mental and physical. Putting this in a slightly different way, what the words of Zen point to cannot be put into words or some kind of physical practice or structure.
The words of Zen are about Zennot Zen, itself. They can only surround Zens mystery. Even if one comes face to face with the profound mystery of Zen, what they've intuited cannot be transmitted to another as if it were something determinate.
Bad habits dont give way easily.
Try as they might, beginners and even seasoned veterans cant put down the crowbar of language. They use it unconsciously to get to the heart of Zen. This includes physical practices such as sitting on a meditation pillow. This also includes following external Zen: the religious structure that the culture has placed around the deep mystery of Zen.
This leads us to Zens barrier that has no door. We can think of this strange barrier as our psychophysical totality. Zen leads us to this barrier and invites us to enter. But we are unable to pass through it because we see nothing else besides our psychophysical totality through which the external, humanized world appears. Furthermore, we imagine that if we do pass through this barrier we will fall into some kind of deadly abyss!
Whether we are studying a Sutta from the Pali canon or a Sutra from the Mahayana canon, sooner or later we come to realize the clear message of the Buddha: that enlightenment or bodhi consists in transcending our present psychophysical totality which is Zens doorless barrier. It is a powerful illusory barriera prison if you likethat keeps our Buddha-nature from recognizing itself in the welter of phenomenal experiences. Every thought and experience that arises is the barrier. Even the most subtle thoughts are the barrier. To pass through Zens! barrier requires extraordinary commitment, skill, and creativity. What this all adds up to is this: if we wish to pass through Zens doorless barrier we must have a first hand intuition of pure Mind which is the substance from which the barrier is composed. Then we will meet our true self, that is the Buddha.
