We cannot dispose of our shadow by running away from it, nor can anyone bury his shadow, however deep the hole he may dig. A shadow can only be affected via the reality of which it is a distorted and unsubstantial projection.
The Maharshi is said to have pointed out that so it is with the ego. The I-concept can only be abandoned by seeking out the I-Reality of which it is a fluctuating and intangible reflection.
One may suspect that herein lies an essential divergence between the Vedantic and Zen-Taoist approach and that of modern Japanese Zen. The latter appears to seek satori by means of a manipulation of the psyche, a process that is represented by the Ko-an system of training, which seems to be in contradiction to the repeated affirmation of the T'ang Masters that Mind cannot be reached through mind (or Reality through its shadow).
Dr. Hubert Benoit has revealed to us the mechanism of this process, whereby a diversion of the Attention to a conundrum, that has no significance in itself, isolates energy at its point of entry into manifestation, energy that would normally be disintegrated in futile affectivity and phantasy, and thereby promotes an accumulation without which the explosions of satori cannot readily take place. (The Supreme Doctrine, p. 103)
Quite so. But on what plane was the inventor of the Ko-an system operating? The Maharshi and Hsi Yun were speaking to us from the plane of Reality Itself.
Perhaps, however, we can use the shadow as an indication of the whereabouts of its source?
