Only Don't Know

Text

Seung Sahn taught a single, deliberately simple practice. Sit upright. Breathe naturally. Ask, with the whole body, 'What am I?' — and meet the answer that arises with 'Only don't know.' 'Don't-know mind cuts off all thinking. When you keep don't-know mind one hundred percent, this don't-know mind is your true self. So don't make anything. Don't hold anything. Just keep don't-know mind, moment to moment.' From that don't-know, he said, function appears: when you are hungry, eat; when tired, sleep; when someone is suffering, help. Practice is don't-know in motion.

tr. Zen Lineage editorial paraphrase, after Seung Sahn, 'Only Don't Know' (1982)

license: cc_by

Attribution

• Speaker
  Seung Sahn

Lineage: Kwan Um

By Seung Sahn

• Only Don't Knowproverb
• Just Do Itproverb
• Vow Before Wisdomproverb
• Open Mouth, Already a Mistakeproverb
• Three Kinds of Studentsproverb

Sources

• contentKwan Um School of Zen — Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn

  Kwan Um School of Zen

  Kwan Um School of Zen — Foundational dharma talks

  Kwan Um School of Zen — Founding Teachings: Only Don't Know