Buddha on Understanding

From the Science of Oneness by Malcolm Hollick (p 163).
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh explains:

The Buddha … said that in order to understand, you have to be one with what you want to understand. …
The French language has the word comprendre, which means to understand, to know, to comprehend.  Com means to be one, to be together, and prendre means to take or to grasp.  To understand something is to take that thing up and to be one with it.  The Indians have a wonderful example.  If a grain of salt would like to measure the degree of saltiness of the ocean, to have a perception of the saltiness of the ocean, it drops itself into the ocean and becomes one with it, and the perception is perfect. …
Understanding means to throw away your knowledge.  You have to be able to transcend your knowledge … The technique is to release.  The Buddhist way of understanding is always letting go of our views and knowledge in order to transcend. … That is why I use the image of water to talk about understanding.  Knowledge is solid; it block the way of understanding.  Water can flow, can penetrate.

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buddha, knowledge, understanding, oneness