Book excerpt: Religion is the vast sky of existence. Reason is a tiny human phenomenon. The reason has to be lost, has to be dropped. Only by going beyond the mind does one start understanding what is. That’s the radical change. No philosophy can bring that radical change – only religion. Religion is non-philosophic, anti-philosophic, and Zen is the purest form of religion. Zen is the very essence of religion. Hence it is irrational, it is absurd. If you try to understand it logically you will be bewildered. It can only be understood illogically. It has to be approached in deep sympathy and love. YOU CANNOT approach Zen through empirical, scientific, objective concepts. They all have to be dropped. It is a heart phenomenon. You have to feel it rather than think it. You have to BE it to know it. Being is knowing. And there is no other knowing.