Q. How can I take one step further from the top of the 100-foot-high pole?

Q. How can I take one step further from the top of the 100-foot-high pole?

Master Sekiso said, “You are at the top of the 100-foot-high pole. How will you take one step further?” Another Zen Master of ancient times said, “One who sits on top of the 100-foot pole has not quite attained true enlightenment. Take another step forward from the top of the pole and your body will reveal itself in the 100,000 universes.”

Student: “Why has one who sits on top of the 100-foot pole not quite attained enlightenment?”
Master: “Because he still has somewhere) to sit.”
Student: “How can I take one step further from the top of the 100-foot-high pole?”
Master: “Know what you are standing on now.”
Student: “What am I like when my own body reveals itself in the 100,000 universes?”
Master: “You will have no one to ask this question.”

Commentary:
The true Self never needs anything to depend on, sit on, stand on, or lie down upon because it never stays anywhere.
It never stays anywhere because it is everywhere.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/xdbQ4