THE EXPERIENCE OF WU

The door of Ch'an is entered by Wu. When we meditate on Wu we ask "What is Wu?" On entering Wu, we experience emptiness; we are not aware of existence, either ours or the world's. This is an elementary level of Wu; if it is enlightenment, it is shallow enlightenment. When we go deeper, everything exists again. We discover that the mind reflects everything. This is a deep level of Wu.

Into enlightenment, there is emptiness. Out of enlightenment, there is existence. These phrases are not easy to understand. When we enter Wu, what are we seeking? Nothing. Nothing can be pursued or sought. Thus it is Wu, "nothing" or "there is not." But when one is deeply enlightened, what happens? At that time, there is nothing in life that confuses, misleads, or poses any problem. One is as expansive as time and space. Thus we say that entering the realm of Wu, there is emptiness; going deeper into Wu, one returns to existence. Emptiness and existence are not two separate things. They are just one thing. Fundamentally, Wu is the same as existence. If there is existence in deep enlightenment, is there also self? Indeed there is. If self didn't exist you wouldn't be able to do anything. What has been removed is ego, which has the sense of always being "for oneself." In truth, it is the attachment to self that has vanished.