Many years ago — many, many years ago — I was giving a public talk in Argentina, and there was a large window, and there was a butterfly there, hitting the glass, and there was a hole in one of the panes of glass. And as we were talking about practice, I took that thing that was happening for the talk, and said, “This butterfly is hitting the glass, once and again; and there is a hole through which she can go into the open, into the light. No-one can say how many times she has to hit the glass to be able to go through the hole. No-one can say if she will ever go through the hole, or die hitting the glass. But there she is, hitting the glass. This is practice”, I said.

And then we had a question and answer period, and before anyone was able to make a question, there was a hand at the back of the room, waving desperately for attention, so I said, “That guy — what do you have to say?” He stood up and said, “The butterfly is hitting the glass because she is already out”. And he turned and walked away out of the room, and I never saw him again. But after he said that, there were no more questions in the room. That was the end of the talk; because it's really true. There is the butterfly hitting the glass. No-one can say how many times the butterfly will hit the glass, to be able to go through the hole. No-one can say if she will ever go through the hole. But that unknown guy says ‘she is hitting the glass because she is already out', flying freely in the open, flying freely in the light.

So the butterfly is in the open already, flying freely, and free to drop by and have some tequila. She flies and she hits the glass and, every time, she is flying in the sky of Buddha -nature. There is a hole in every hitting. Please, let's find it, and drop by for some tequila.

Guidelines for Studying the Way Part 3