great

future.

And the miracle is that Zen is neither interested in the past nor in the future. Its
total interest is in the present. Maybe that's why the miracle is possible, because
the past and the future are bridged by the present.

The present is not part of time. Have you ever thought about it? How long is the
present?

The past has a duration, the future has a duration. What is the duration of the
present?

How long does it last? Between the past and the future can you measure the
present? It is immeasurable; it is almost not. It is not time at all: it is the
penetration of eternity into time.

And Zen lives in the present. The whole teaching is: how to be in the present,
how to get out of the past which is no more and how not to get involved in the
future which is not yet, and just to be rooted, centered, in that which is.

The whole approach of Zen is of immediacy, but because of that it can bridge the
past and the future. It can bridge many things: it can bridge the past and the
future, it can bridge the East and the West, it can bridge body and soul. It can
bridge the unbridgeable worlds: this world and that, the mundane and the sacred.

BEFORE WE ENTER INTO this small anecdote it will be Good to understand a

few things. The first: the Masters do not tell the truth. Even if they want to they
cannot; it is impossible. Then what is their function? What do they go on doing?
They cannot tell the truth, but they can call forth the truth which is fast asleep in
you. They can provoke it, they can challenge it. They can shake you up, they can
wake you up. They cannot give you God, truth, NIRVANA, because in the first
place you already have it all with you.

You are born with it. It is innate, it is intrinsic. It is your very nature. So anybody
who pretends to give you the truth is simply exploiting your stupidity, your
gullibility. He is cunning -- cunning and utterly ignorant too. He knows nothing;
not even a glimpse of truth has happened to him. He is a pseudo Master.

Truth cannot be given; it is already in you. It can be called forth, it can be

provoked. A context can be created, a certain space can be created in which it
rises in you and is no more asleep, becomes awakened.

The function of the Master is far more complex than you think. It would have
been far easier, simpler, if truth could be conveyed. It cannot be conveyed, hence
indirect ways and means have to be devised.

The New Testament has the beautiful story of Lazarus. Christians have missed
the whole point of it. Christ is so unfortunate -- he has fallen into the wrong
company. Not even a single Christian theologian has been able to discover the
meaning of the story of Lazarus, his death and resurrection.

Lazarus dies. He is the brother of Mary Magdalene and Martha and a great
devotee of Jesus. Jesus is far away; by the time he gets the information and the
invitation, "Come immediately," two days have already passed, and by the time
he reaches Lazarus' place four days have passed. But Mary and Martha are
waiting for him -- their trust is such.

The whole village is laughing at them. They are being stupid in others' eyes
because they are keeping the corpse in a cave; they are watching day in, day out,
guarding the corpse.

The corpse has already started stinking; it is deteriorating.

The village people are saying, "You are fools! Jesus cannot do anything. When
somebody is dead, somebody is dead!"

Jesus comes. He goes to the cave -- he does not enter into the cave -- he stands
outside and calls Lazarus forth. The people have gathered. They must be
laughing: "This man seems to be crazy!"

Somebody says to him, "What are you doing?" He is dead! He has been dead for
four days. In fact, to enter into the cave is difficult -- his body is stinking. It is
impossible!

Whom are you calling?"

But, unperturbed, Jesus shouts again and again, "Lazarus, come out!"

And the crowd is in for a great surprise: Lazarus walks out of the cave -- shaken,
shocked, as if out of a great slumber, as if he had fallen into a coma. He himself