" Yet, it is the most difficult step of all. Divesting oneself of all other things is almost as nothing to divesting oneself of oneself. At the discourse's end Student C. has yet to achieve kensho, but it seems inevitable. He has moved beyond the point of self-actualization and entered a phase of his enlightenment wherein a positive feedback loop is at work. As Yasutani-roshi explains in an earlier lecture, a man who sets his pipe down and loses it begins by searching aimlessly but the intensity of his search increases the longer it continues such that, not finding what he knows to be close, the man becomes obsessed with the search. At times Student C. expresses disillusionment and weariness with the search, as any true hero long on the road of trials, yet it may be submitted that no man can come as close to kensho as Student C. comes and ever truly turn back.

Bibliography

Kapleau, Philip the Three Pillars of Zen. New York: Random House. 1989, Print.
2. Campbell, Joseph the Masks of God: Primitive Mythology. New York: Penguin Group. 1987. Print.

3. Campbell, Joseph the Hero with a Thousand Faces. California: Joseph Campbell Foundation. 2008. Print.

4. Dawood, N.J. (trans.) the Koran. New York: Penguin Group. 2004. Print.

5. Nelson, Thomas (ed.) the King James Study Bible. New York: Thomas Nelson, Inc. 2004. Print.

Kapleau, 1989, pp. 121-135

Campbell, 2008

Koran, 2:214

Kapleau, 1989, p. 121

Kapleau, 1989, p. 125

Campbell, 1987, p. 55

Kapleau, 1989, p. 129

Bible, 1 Peter 5:8

Kapleau, 1989, p. 135

Campbell, 2008, p. 89

Kapleau, 1989, p.124