Having quieted the student's mind into temporary silence with a reply that defies standard thought, the teacher continues:
"The eye does not go there. Nor speech. Nor the mind. We do not know it. We do not understand how anyone can teach it."
Previously, the teacher had stated that what the student is asking for is the eye of the eye and the ear of the ear; therefore, it is only natural that the student would begin with the eye and start to retrace its steps. The student would begin with the ear and start to retrace its steps. Such an approach is a perfectly natural result of hearing that we are looking for the ear of the ear.
If you were brought a fine piece of tailored clothing and were told that the clothing itself is not the original cloth, and that there exists beyond the clothing the "cloth of the cloth," then naturally, if you wanted to find this cloth, you would go back and look for the tailor. You would begin with the garment and retrace the steps of how the garment arrived at your door.
The teacher is now adding further clarity to such a predictable thought process by saying that the eye, speech, and mind do not go there. In other words, yes, retrace your steps, but do not try to retrace them with the eye, the ear, or the mind. The tools that are designed to look outward at the projection are incapable of shedding light on the original tailor within, represented as "there."
How do we define "there?" Is it not nothing but a place where I am not? Where the sense of identity that we call "me" and "I" are not? Wherever the sense of identity is, we call here. Wherever it is not, we call there. This there that is being indicated, however, defies all other there's in that it is the very place from which the sense of identity originates. It is the true I, the true me, the true all; however, due to misdirection and confusion, the I is dislocated into only the personality and the body. Like a shoulder that is out of its socket, it needs to be restored. Therefore, lay down your arms, says the teacher. Choose new tools.
This is akin to a negotiator saying to the warring factions, "Lay down your arms." The tools, the weapons, the skills, the forces, and the accessories that have taken you this far in your journey will not be the ones to carry you forward. It does not mean that these skills will no longer be useful, but retracing the steps is a skill of a different order. In other words, the teacher is telling the student that that which is familiar will start to seem less familiar, and that which was thought to be unfamiliar will become your most intimate companion. Hearing this fills the student with a sense of curiosity, wonder, and even ardor for truth, because they can sense that the journey now beginning is unlike any other.
Tomorrow, we will look at the teachers startling implication about the very nature of teaching!
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