God is Dead, Now Zen is the Only Living Truth
Discourses
Table of Contents
God is a puppeteer
Nietzsche declared 'God is dead, therefore man is free.' If God created you, you're a puppet—no freedom, no responsibility, no enlightenment. Either God or freedom—both cannot coexist. Nietzsche was right but only half-right: he used intellect, not meditation. Zen is the other half—God is dead, now Zen is the only living truth. Seigen and Sekito: 'Even before going to Sokei, I hadn't lost a thing.'
God is an insult to man
A Buddhist scholar says enlightened men don't concern themselves with trivia—but Buddha made 33,000 rules for disciples. God is an insult to man. If God created you, he can uncreate you anytime—you're a slave. No theologian realized that accepting God as creator destroys all dignity, freedom, love. The scholar is a knowledgeable idiot. Sekito refused Nangaku's letter—'Better to sink into hell eternally than hope for the liberation old saints know.'
God is just like tomorrow
God is just like tomorrow—it never comes. God-oriented religions create the pain of being an outsider. When the lie of God is exposed, you feel empty—but that emptiness is a door, not a dead end. Existentialists fill it with anguish; the mystic fills it with meditation. Enter inward and you become the insider—at home with trees, birds, stars. Sekito on Mount Nangaku: 'Stonehead.' Nangaku predicted: 'This monk will make people's mouths tremble for generations.'
God is a lie
God is a lie. Calling existence 'God' is not the same—God implies personality, limitedness, creator. Existence is unlimited, non-personal, eternal. God creates lies: prayer, worship, temples, organized religion. Existence is non-judgmental—compassionate to sinner and saint equally. Sekito: 'Who bound you? Who made you dirty? Who gave you birth and death?' No liberation needed—nobody bound you. The lion's roar from Stonehead.
God is your insecurity
God is your insecurity. God-oriented religions are fiction—lies needing more lies to support them. Truth stands alone; lies need arguments. God is your fear, dread, anxiety. True religiousness is your interiority, not an external judge. The God-oriented show no compassion or ecstasy—they're violent, fearful, hypocritical. The man without belief but with truth finds grace, compassion, relaxation. Sekito's poem: 'Each is independent, but different leaves come from the same root.'
God is the original sinner
God is the original sinner. God-oriented theology opposes not evil but the natural. God prohibited Adam from wisdom and eternal life—that's hostility to life. Christians shouting 'Jesus is the only savior' outside the gate—repressed sexuality becoming perversion. Holland banned Osho for speaking against homosexuality. Sekito: 'Light and darkness are a pair, like the foot before and the foot behind. Do not waste your time in vain.'
God is the business of the priest
God is the business of the priest. Humans like being told what to do—resistance to thinking is because mind only has borrowed thoughts. You can't think your way to good and bad; clarity comes from no-mind. Choiceless consciousness does good effortlessly. God, priest, scripture—all exploit your inability to see directly. Impo and Sekito: 'How sad! How sad!' then Sekito started crying. 'The path on the Stone-Head is slippery!'