Questions to Master Deshimaru: A Zen monk said to me, "In Zen, when you have satori, you can say, `I am God!' "Can that be interpreted as being like Saint Paul when he said, "It is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me"?

Questions to Master Deshimaru

Maitre Deshimaru en mondo

Question

A Zen monk said to me, "In Zen, when you have satori, you can say, `I am God!' "Can that be interpreted as being like Saint Paul when he said, "It is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me"?

Answer

Zazen is the same thing as God or Buddha. Dogen, the master of transmission, said, "Zazen itself is God." By that he meant that during zazen you are in harmony with the cosmos. In hishiryo consciousness there is no more anything. It is satori consciousness. The self has dropped away and dissolved. It is the consciousness of God. It is God. People have a personal God. We are not separate. There is no duality between God, Buddha, and ourselves. If I say, "I am God or Buddha," I am a little bit crazy. Mushotoku is important. If you think consciously about God or Buddha it's not good. If I say you are God or Buddha while you are practicing zazen it's not at all the same thing as if you say it about yourself. In Zen, you must have no goal. In hishiryo consciousness the personal self, however illuminated it may be, is still here. Meister Eckhart said, "If you empty yourself God enters into you. In Zen the ego enters into God. God enters into the ego. Both.