Why does one need a Master on the Meditation Path

A master cannot walk the inner path on your behalf. He cannot suffer your confusion, nor can he pass through your darkness for you. If it were possible, he would have done it already out of love. But existence does not allow such substitution. Each person must travel through his own chaos.

What the master can offer is courage. He can stand by your side and say, “Go on. Just a little further. The night feels endless, but dawn is closer than you think. When darkness is deepest, morning is near.” His presence gives strength — and on this path, courage is essential.

Without such encouragement, the journey becomes extremely difficult. When you are lost in inner turmoil, who will remind you that it is temporary? Who will whisper, “Just a little more…”? Sometimes hope is all you need to keep moving.

As Lao Tzu taught in the Tao Te Ching, even a journey of a thousand miles is completed one step at a time. You take one step, then another, and slowly the impossible becomes possible. The vast distance disappears in small movements.

When you begin to move inward, be prepared: chaos will arise. All that you have suppressed — your wounds, fears, sorrows — will come to the surface. What you have been avoiding patiently waits within you. Entering yourself means facing it.

You may feel as if you are passing through hell. No one reaches heaven without walking through hell first. The darkness is not a mistake; it is the doorway. The night is not the enemy; it is the passage toward dawn.

To arrive at the morning, one must travel through the dark night. There is no shortcut. You will have to encounter it, accept it, and move through it — step by step — until light begins to appear on its own.