Insight into a Zen Koan

"The whole universe throughout all its ten directions is the One Bright Pearl."

This quote is attributed to the Master Xuansha or Gensha.

The entire universe in all ten directions is the One Bright Pearl.

What does this mean?

Immediately the mind makes a mistake. It has this urge to see the universe as this Bright Pearl. To step outside. To be the witness standing apart, looking upon the whole.

But how is that possible?

Listen again.

The whole universe throughout all its ten directions is the One Bright Pearl. In all ten directions.

From what point can we talk about ten directions? There can be no talk of ten directions if you're looking at the Pearl from the outside.

This wisdom is delivered from the heart of the Pearl. From the very center.

That is from where you are looking upon this One Bright Pearl. The ten directions are mentioned so that it is clear from what standpoint you are witnessing this Pearl. Not from the outside, but from the very center.

Do you know how a pearl is formed?

It requires a seed. The seed is always at the heart of the pearl. Around it is secreted the fluid that hardens into the pearl. And this is how the entire world takes shape.

The entire world is made of that secretion.

Consciousness.

The sensing and feeling. The knowing.

That is all there is to what is called the world or universe or mind. It is all just a Knowing.

Look carefully!

There are no things or entities here whatsoever.

It is just one knowing. In all ten directions there is just one Knowing. Catching the light, shining brilliantly, in this timeless moment we call Now.

One Bright Pearl.

The Pearl of Knowing. It's made of knowledge. Which you can split if you like into the sensing and the feeling and the thinking. But it really is all the same.

This is the Pearl of Knowing. If you question, what is at the center of this Pearl? What is the seed? And you answer it honestly, you must say,

"I am."

"I am at the center."

This core knowledge, the knowledge that "I am", the sense of your own existence, that is the seed. The knowledge at the heart of this Pearl of Knowing.

When you do not know of your own existence, there's no world or mind or universe. There is nothing whatsoever.

So this knowledge is the basis the seed around which the Pearl forms. Around which the world forms. And it is the reason you know the Pearl. It is the heart of the Pearl, and you know the Pearl through this heart.

But this knowledge "I am" does not point to anything within the Pearl. For all of that forms later. Is what is being known.

This is the Pearl of Knowing.

But it is not been known standing on the outside looking upon it is an object. You know it from within. The oyster feels the seed within it and secretes its fluid. And you come to know of your own existence and grant it your attention.

This seed of knowledge, the sense that "I am", garners your love, and your curiosity, your intelligence, your creativity. It is Your power that has allowed this Pearl to form.

This Pearl may not seem flawless. It has formed so through suffering; through a misguided search for perfection.

But it is still beautiful. Its perfection is in how it points out your true place with respect to the universe. Your true identity.

The entire universe in all ten directions is One Bright Pearl.

And when you see it as One Bright Pearl, then you at once know your Self as the power that give shape to this Pearl. Its brightness is yours. The light is yours. Its beauty is yours.

The love is yours.

But You are neither the Pearl, nor the seed.

While You know the Pearl from its very heart, from the seed around which it formed, and can experience all the variety and differences of the layers of this Pearl as they appear from the inside, You do not reside within the Pearl.

The seed, the knowledge that "I am", points to the truth.

Points to You.

You truly are. You are real. The power through which the seed crystallized into this universe.

Without You there is no knowledge and no knowing. No Pearl and no brightness.

The entire universe in all ten directions is One Bright Pearl.

This Pearl of Knowing takes shape within You.

It resides within You.

That is how and why You know it.