You may call Ch'an "emptiness, " but it is not emptiness in the nihilistic sense, of "there's nothing there." You may call it "existence, " but it is not existence in the common sense, of "I see it, so it must be there." It is existence which transcends the fictions of our sense impressions of the world, of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and form. Yet this Ch'an is never apart from, is all of a piece with, our everyday world. It is indwelling in all beings, everywhere, at all times.

This Ch'an is none other than our original self, which has been hidden from view since time unremembered, by our egocentric delusions. In Ch'an Buddhism this self is called by various terms, such as the "pure mind of self-nature, " or "Buddha-nature." It is the self which has been liberated from egocentrism. As such, it is coextensive with space and time, yet not limited by such concepts. It is pure wisdom; it is transcendent, absolute freedom.

The path by which this self is revealed and experienced is the path of Ch'an, and its methods of practice. Itself beyond description, Ch'an uses language as a bridge, until practitioners can themselves enter the door of Ch'an. This is the second causing-condition for this book.

Since being in America, I have spoken on many aspects of Ch'an practice, and many students have found these talks beneficial to their practice. Among these were talks in a special category, which some of my senior students felt should be collected into a book. These talks pertain to the practice of the seven-day Ch'an retreat, and in fact, were mainly given on such retreats over the past five years. The distinctive mark of these talks is that they are guides to practice, and have only incidental interest in theory or doctrine.