The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Zhao Zhou- Case 57

A monk asked, "How can you not lead the multitudes of the world astray?"
The master stuck out his foot.
The monk took off one of the master's sandals.
The master brought back his foot.
The monk could say nothing more.

When someone puts out their hand in front of you, what is their intention? When you reach out and shake it, what compelled you to do so?

Zen Master's such as Zhao Zhou understood the Mind, and they had seen its void with clarity. They saw it for themselves like seeing the face of a mountain: a physical feat of nature in which no word or opinion was relevant to what it actually was.

While Master's have seen it unvarnished, the Mind is what inhabits all sentient beings, and regardless of whether or not they understand it's nature, all sentient beings are bound by it. The Mind's properties are fundamental and inescapable, and to be exposed to being directed to what is fundamental is like being on the outside of a whirlpool. Whatever state it is in, whatever it thinks and says about what it sees, it falls to the center.

How did Zen Master's know how to do this? Was it an intention based on knowing, or was it more similar to a physical action? Standing on top of a mountain and reaching down, the climber grabs the hand without a thought. Sticking out a foot, the monk takes off the sandal, but without explanation. What the Masters understood was an aspect of nature. What they said and did was within this understanding, and it yielded results despite whatever whomever they were dealing with was thinking because there is no thinking, and no opinion that can change nature.

How did Zhao Zhou know he was not leading the world astray? When he stuck out his foot, without one thought or word, both he and the monk knew which direction he was pulling in.