Learn Here that Learning is Ignorance

Vol 1. March 29, 2020

Jack Kerouac (d. 1969) once wrote, “I’ll found a Buddhist
University and put up this frieze in front:

“HERE LEARN THAT LEARNING IS IGNORANCE.”

I live across the street from a grade school. Most mornings schoolchildren line up and wait for the doors to open. Their bright faces chirp eagerly like songbirds. The crossing guard cheerfully greets late-coming cars. The busy street whizzes with traffic going to work. The American flag waves above the scene.

Today, however, during the corona pandemic, the scene is eerily silent. The kids are gone. The street is empty. The crossing guard has vanished. Only the America flag
waves forlornly above the tomb.

Seeing that flag waving, I’m reminded of Hui-neng. One day, Hui-neng, the sixth patriarch of the zen school, found two monks arguing outside a monastery.

The first monk said, “Hey look! The flag is moving.” The second monk said, “No, the wind is moving.” “No, it’s the flag.” “No, it’s the wind.”

Hui-neng said, “Gentlemen, the only thing that’s moving is your mind.”

Normally our minds are cluttered with thoughts. Our senses are polluted with sights and sounds. We convince ourselves the world is real. We argue with one another.

But when you meditate, the world becomes pure. You see the futility of your thoughts. Sights and sounds are illusions. You arrive at peace.

Emptiness

Outside my window, I see empty streets and an empty school. But the scene is empty not because of corona.

There never were any schoolchildren. There never were any flags waving. There never were any cars whizzing. The only thing that’s moving here is my mind.

When you’re a school kid, you’re eager to drink up at the fonts of knowledge.

But when you meditate, you realize knowledge is ignorance.

A Buddha is one who can look at the world and see emptiness.

If I ever found a Buddhist University, I’ll be like Jack Kerouac. I’ll put a sign out front:

HERE LEARN THAT LEARNING IS IGNORANCE.