THE STUDENT DOKO CAME TO THE MASTER AND SAID,
"IN WHAT STATE OF MIND SHOULD I SEEK THE TRUTH?",
THE MASTER REPLIED, " THERE IS NO MIND, SO YOU CANNOT PUT IT IN ANY STATE, AND THERE IS NO TRUTH, SO YOU CANNOT SEEK IT."
DOKO SAID, "IF THERE IS NO MIND AND NO TRUTH, WHY DO ALL THESE STUDENTS GATHER BEFORE YOU EVERY DAY TO STUDY?"
THE MASTER LOOKED AROUND AND SAID, "I DON'T SEE ANYONE."
THE INQUIRER ASKED, "THEN WHO ARE YOU TEACHING?"
"I HAVE NO TONGUE, SO HOW CAN I TEACH?", REPLIED THE MASTER.
THEN DOKO SAID SADLY, "I CANNOT FOLLOW YOU; I CANNOT UNDERSTAND."
THE MASTER SAID, "I DON'T UNDERSTAND MYSELF."

Life is such a mystery, no one can understand it, and one who claims that he understands it is simply ignorant. He is not aware of what he is saying, of what nonsense he is talking. If you are wise, this will be the first realization: life cannot be understood. Understanding is impossible. Only this much can be understood -- that understanding is impossible. That is what this beautiful Zen anecdote says.
The master says, " I don't understand it myself." If you go and ask the enlightened ones this will be their answer. But if you go and ask the unenlightened ones they will give you many answers, they will propose many doctrines; they will try to solve the mystery which cannot be solved. It is not a riddle. A riddle can be solved, a mystery is unsolvable by its very nature- there is no way to solve it. Socrates said, "When I was young, I thought I knew much. When I became old, ripe in wisdom, I came to understand that I knew nothing."