All Scriptures Are Waste Paper

According to Zen

Zen is the result of Indian Buddhism traveling east into China and blending with Daoism. Buddhism’s big goal is to transcend suffering, and Daoism’s big goal is to become one with nature, and the natural intelligence of intuition.

In Zen, intuition and experience are the only true teachers. In other words, words are insufficient teachers. All words can do is point to the truth, which is your direct experience of reality.

Words are not reality — they only attempt to describe reality. Reality must be seen, felt, heard, tasted. Words are like a finger pointing to the moon, and it’s a shame to confuse the finger for the actual vision of the moon.

That’s why Zen calls scripture waste paper. Here’s a similar quote to drive the idea home:

“A donkey carrying a pile of holy books is still a donkey.”
— Zen Proverb

No matter how much of the Word you memorize into your head, it doesn’t matter, unless it’s written on your heart.

For scriptures to be truly effective, one must understand not just the words, but the meaning behind them. One must understand not just the meaning, but also practice what it suggests.

One must not just practice, but practice sincerely, with full attention, until the lesson…