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| Simulataneous pecking from inside and outside the eggshell |
| "Sottaku Doji" is a famous Zen phrase, that translates literally as "simultaneous pecking from inside and outside (the eggshell)". It desciribes how the pecking of the baby chicken that tries to break through it's shell to be born, is perfectly met by the pecking of the mother hen, that helps to break the shell from outside. |
| This expression is used as a metaphor for the perfect interaction of Zen teacher and student in their mutual effort to question and express the truth. Where this interaction takes places, it leads to a breakthrough - liberation inside life and death. |
| The student is dissatisfied: Not only will the teacher not reply to his existantial doubts about life and death, he won't even reply to his greeting "Good morning!" How is he supposed to learn from such a teacher? Burning with anger, he is smoldering inside his own eggshell. The teacher, on the other hand, turns the key in his unsuccesful try to start the students engine. When the engine finally starts working, the teacher tries to give gas: Only to find the engine striking again. Once the car gets moving, it runs to the right when the teacher turns the handle left, and to the left, when the teacher tries to go right. The teacher steps on the break, but that - of course - won't work either... |
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| Now, how do teacher and student interact in realtiy? Too often it seems, that the aim, direction and timing of the student's and the teacher's penetrating investigations are completely different. |
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