The Unwritten Book Part 1

Many students kept asking me to write down the principles behind our school. In an attempt to both please them, and explain why that was difficult, I wrote the following paper. The paper is a little long so I'll break it down into a few blog posts.

There is an unwritten book. It is unwritten because it is never to be written down, but is to be transmitted down orally from master to master; my teacher called this menju kuketsu (oral secrets transmitted face to face). This unwritten book has been passed down to me. I was told not to write it down; but to pass it down only 'face to face'. Yet, here I am writing it down. I write it down for me, and those I sit with face to face. I write it down for generations to come, so that it will not be lost.

Why do we not write it down? Everyone knows the Truth; That All is really connected, that nothing is really separate; so, there is no reason to write it down. Plus, words by their nature define and separate, so the Truth of Wholeness cannot be written down, it cannot even be put into words. This is why so often we use art to try and point the way to this Truth. The Truth is whole, the Truth is everything, but words separate everything into definable pieces. To try and write down the Truth is sure folly. Words, at best, only 'point the way;' they merely reflect some aspect of the Truth, the way the Moon reflects a portion of the Sun's light. So I know I shouldn't write this down, some have tried before me. Success is impossible, But I write, what I can , anyhow.