About Kenshō, paraphrasing from the written works attributed to the First Patriarch of Zen, Bodhidharma, the patriarch writes that if a person without Kenshō constantly tries to make his thoughts free and unattached, he commits a great transgression against the Dharma. He winds up in the passive indifference of empty emptiness, no more able to distinguish good from bad than a drunken man. If you want to put the Dharma of non-activity into practice, you must bring an end to all your thought-attachments by breaking through to Kenshō. Unless you have Kenshō, you can never achieve a state of non-doing.

Kenshō is a state of letting go, releasing who you think you are and dwelling in your true self​