“Where does the path to awakening begin?”—“Right here.” In different versions of this koan, the master draws a line on the ground or in the air. Never mind that. It is obviously right where you are that you start. Just take a step forward. Ah, but how to take that step? If you put a foot over the line, you have lost your way before you started.
As Bellatrix says about the killing curse to Harry Potter,
You have to mean it.
And when Harry went to let Voldemort kill him, he had to mean that, too.
GAKUDŌ-YŌJINSHŪ
IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF ZAZEN
1.Necessity for a Desire for the Way.
Although there are many names given to that which seeks the Way they all refer to the one, and same, Mind.Nagyaarajyuna said, “The universality of change, the arising and disappearing, when completely understood, is theseeing into the heart of all things, and the Mind that thus understands is the Mind that truly seeks the Way.” As this is so, why is temporary dependence upon the ordinary mind of mancalled the Mind that seeks the Way? If one sees through the changeability of the universe, the ordinary, selfish mind is not in use; that which seeks for the sake of itself is nowhere to be found.
IOW, the mind that seeks the way is a good start, which is what we were looking for.
Now let’s take a look at the koan itself, in versions set down by Masters Mumon and Dogen.