The third question:

Question 3

HOW CAN I TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'NONDOING' AND BEING LAZY... AND IF 'FLOATING' -- HOW TO MAKE DECISIONS?

IT IS not difficult. Both have different tastes, and very clear-cut, very distinct. When you are lazy, it is a negative taste -- you simply feel you have no energy, you simply feel dull; you simply feel sleepy, you simply feel dead. When you are in a state of nondoing then you are full of energy -- it is a very positive taste. You have full energy, overflowing. You are radiant, bubbling, vibrating. You are not sleepy, you are perfectly aware. You are not dead -- you are tremendously alive.

So there is not a problem. You can just check in, and always continue to check. There is a possibility the mind can deceive you: it can rationalize laziness as non-doing. It can say "I have become a Zen master" or "I believe in Tao" -- but you arc not deceiving anybody else. You will be deceiving only yourself. So be alert.

When you are lazy you will know it certainly. It is like a headache: how do you know when you have a headache? and when you don't have? You will say you simply know. It is self-evident. In the same way it is self-evident: if you are lazy you will feel sleepy, in a stupor -- no energy to do anything, no energy to be creative, no energy to go anywhere. Remember: no energy is the basic taste.

When you are in a non-doing state, you are so full of energy that you want to go somewhere, but nowhere to go. The difference is not no energy but nowhere to go. You are so radiant, but what to do? You are sitting there overflowing. The energy goes on welling up, and goes on cleansing you, as if you are under a shower of energy -- fresh, you have taken a bath just now; sharp, intelligent, aware. The taste will tell you.

Let me tell you one anecdote -- I loved it:

Two big mountain lions were stalking through the jungle single file. Suddenly the rear lion took a big swipe with his tongue across the ass of the front lion.

"Are you turning queer or something?" asked the front lion.

"No," answered the back lion. "I just ate a Jew and I'm trying to get the taste out of my mouth."