I Only Teach Don't Know — Kwan Um School of Zen

Several years ago, after I had been teaching in the West for some time, some of my American students were having a meeting to discuss the use of certain practice forms in the Kwan Um School of Zen. During the meeting, one of the students asked, if everything is One, why I had to teach Asian-style Buddhism, why l taught Mahayana style, and Zen. "Doesn't this make 'same' and 'different`?" she asked. This is a very interesting question.

I answered. "Yah, I don't teach Korean or Mahayana or Zen. I don't even teach Buddhism. I only teach don't know. Fifty years here and there teaching only don't know. So only don't know. OK?" Only don't know, always and everywhere. Our don't-know mind can do anything.

From The Compass of Zen by Zen Master Seung Sahn