Right and Wrong

image from: www.randomwire.com

When Bankei held his seclusion-weeks of meditation, pupils from many parts of Japan came to attend. During one of these gatherings a pupil was caught stealing. The matter was reported to Bankei with the request that the culprit be expelled. Bankei ignored the case.

Later the pupil was caught in a similar act, and again Bankei disregarded the matter. This angered the other pupils, who drew up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief, stating that otherwise they would leave in a body.

When Bankei had read the petition he called everyone before him. “You are wise brothers,” he told them. “You know what is right and what is not right. You may go somewhere else to study if you wish, but this poor brother does not even know right from wrong. Who will teach him if I do not? I am going to keep him here even if all the rest of you leave.”

A torrent of tears cleansed the face of the brother who had stolen. All desire to steal had vanished.

(Paul Reps & Nyogen Senzaki, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

True Reformation

image from: www.en.wikipedia.org

Ryokan devoted his life to the study of Zen. One day he heard that his nephew, despite the admonitions of relatives, was spending his money on a courtesan. In as much as the nephew had taken Ryokan's place in managing the family estate and the property was in danger of being dissipated, the relatives asked Ryoken to do something about it.

Ryokan had to travel a long way to visit his nephew, whom he had not seen for many years. The nephew seemed pleased to meet his uncle again and invited him to remain overnight.

All night Ryokan sat in meditation. As he was departing in the morning he said to the young man: "I must be getting old, my hand shakes so. Will you help me tie the string of my straw sandal?" The nephew helped him willingly. "Thank you," finished Ryokan, "you see, a man becomes older and feebler day by day. Take good care of yourself." 

Then Ryokan left, never mentioning a word about the courtesan or the complaints of the relatives. But, from that morning on, the dissipations of the nephew ended. 

(Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")  

Finding a Diamond on a Muddy Road

image from: www.dragosroua.com

Gudo was the emperor’s teacher of his time. Nevertheless, he used to travel alone as a wandering mendicant. Once when he was on his was to Edo, the cultural and political center of the shogunate, he approached a little village named Takenaka. It was evening and a heavy rain was falling. Gudo was thoroughly wet. His straw sandals were in pieces. At a farmhouse near the village he noticed four or five pairs of sandals in the window and decided to buy some dry ones.

The woman who offered him the sandals, seeing how wet he was, invited him in to remain for the night at her home. Gudo accepted, thanking her. He entered and recited a sutra before the family shrine. He then was introduced to the woman’s mother, and to her children. Observing that the entire family was depressed, Gudo asked what was wrong.

“My husband is a gambler and a drunkard,” the housewife told him. “When he happens to win he drinks and becomes abusive. When he loses he borrows money from others. Sometimes when he becomes thoroughly drunk he does not come home at all. What can I do?”

I will help him,” said Gudo. “Here is some money. Get me a gallon of fine wine and something good to eat. Then you may retire. I will meditate before the shrine.”

When the man of the house returned about midnight, quite drunk, he bellowed: “Hey, wife, I am home. Have you something for me to eat?”

“I have something for you.” said Gudo. “I happened to get caught in the rain and your wife kindly asked me to remain here for the night. In return I have bought some wine and fish, so you might as well have them.”

The man was delighted. He drank the wine at once and laid himself down on the floor. Gudo sat in meditation beside him.

In the morning when the husband awoke he had forgotten about the previous night. “Who are you? Where do you come from?” he asked Gudo, who still was meditating.

“I am Gudo of Kyoto and I am going on to Edo,” replied the Zen master.

The man was utterly ashamed. He apologized profusely to the teacher of his emperor.

Gudo smiled. “Everything in this life is impermanent,” he explained. “Life is very brief. If you keep on gambling and drinking, you will have no time left to accomplish anything else, and you will cause your family to suffer too.”

The perception of the husband awoke as if from a dream. “You are right,” he declared. “How can I ever repay you for this wonderful teaching! Let me see you off and carry your things a little way.”

“If you wish,” assented Gudo.

The two started out. After they had gone three miles Gudo told him to return. “Just another five miles,” he begged Gudo. They continued on.

“You may return now,” suggested Gudo.

“After another ten miles,” the man replied.

“Return now,” said Gudo, when the ten miles had been passed.

“I am going to follow you all the rest of my life,” declared the man.

Modern Zen teachers in Japan spring from the lineage of a famous master who was the successor of Gudo. His name was Mu-nan, the man who never turned back.

(Nyogen Senzaki & Paul Reps, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

Muddy Road

image from: www.wa-pedia.com

Tanzan and Ekido were once travelling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling.

Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.

"Come on, girl," said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.

Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. 

Then he no longer could restrain himself. "We monks don't do near females," he told Tanzan, "especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"

"I left the girl there," said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?"

(Nyogen Senzaki & Paul Reps, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

-----------------------

quote:

The one who carried the girl across the stream had no feelings of lust. He acted spontaneously and with nonchalance. Is the other monk not the one who all along had lustful desires?

(Tsai Chih Chung, "The Book of Zen Freedom of The Mind")

Fleeing the Tiger

Buddha told a parable in a sutra:

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a lucious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

(Paul Reps & Nyogen Senzaki, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")
-----------------

quote:
Not to think about the past and the future, but to cherish one moment after another is real fortune.

(Tsai Chih Chung, "The Book of Zen Freedom of The Mind")

Great Waves

image from: www.richard-seaman.com

In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, Great Waves.

O-nami was immensly strong and knew the art of wrestling. In his private bouts he defeated even his teacher, but in public was so bashful that his own pupils threw him.

O-nami felt he should go to a Zen master for help. Hakuju, a wandering teacher, was stopping in a little temple nearby, so O-nami went to see him and told him of his great trouble.

“Great Waves is your name,” the teacher advised, “so stay in this temple tonight. Imagine that you are those billows. You are no longer a wrestler who is afraid. You are those huge waves sweeping everything before them, swallowing all in their path. Do this and you will be the greatest wrestler in the land.”

The teacher retired. O-nami sat in meditation trying to imagine himself as waves. He thought of many different things. Then gradualy he turned more and more to the feeling of waves. As the night advanced the waves became larger and larger. They swept away the flowers in their vases. Even the Buddha in the shrine was inundated. Before dawn the temple was nothing but the ebb and flow of an immense sea.

In the morning the teacher found O-nami meditating, a faint smile on his face. He patted the wrestler’s shoulder. “Now nothing can disturb you,” he said. “You are those waves. You will sweep everything before you.”

The same day O-nami entered the wrestling contests and won. After that, no one in Japan was able to defeat him.

(Nyogen Senzaki & Paul Reps, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

-----------------

quote:

As long as you make direct contact in any given situation, you will become the thing and the thing will become you.

(Tsai Chih Chung, "The Book of Zen Freedom of The Mind")

Every Minute Zen

image from: www.gardenvisit.com

Zen students are with their masters at least ten years before they presume to teach others. Nan-in was visited by Tenno, who, having passed his apprenticeship, had become a teacher. 

The day happened to be rainy, so Tenno wore wooden clogs and carried an umbrella. After greeting him Nan-in remarked: “I suppose you left your wooden clogs in the vestibule. I want to know if your umbrella is on the right or left side of the clogs.”

Tenno, confused, had no instant answer. He realized he was unable to carry his Zen every minute. He became Nan-in’s pupil, and studied six more years to accomplish his every-minute Zen.

(Paul Reps & Nyogen Senzaki, "Zen Flesh Zen Bones")

Teaching the Ultimate

In early times in Japan, bamboo-and-paper lanterns were used with candles inside. A blind man, visiting a friend one night, was offered a lantern to carry home with him.

“I do not need a lantern,” he said. “Darkness or light is all the same to me.”

“I know you do not need a lantern to find your way,” his friend replied, “but if you don’t have one, someone else may run into you. So you must take it.”

The blind man started off with the lantern and before he had walked very far someone ran squarely into him. “Look out where you are going!” he exclaimed to the stranger. “Can’t you see this lantern?”

“Your candle has burned out, brother,” replied the stranger.

(Nyogen Senzaki & Paul Reps, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

------------------

Quote:

Those who make use of the words of others to instruct people can be likened to the blind man. The light of his lantern had gone out long ago, yet he was himself unaware of it.

(Tsai Chih Chung, "The Book of Zen Freedom of The Mind")

The Moon Cannot be Stolen

image from: www.asianetwork.org

A Zen Master lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. 

One evening, while he was away, a thief sneaked into the hut only to find there was nothing in it to steal.

The Zen Master returned and found him. “You have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you should not return empty handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.”

The thief was bewildered, but he took the clothes and ran away.

The Master sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.”

(Nyogen Senzaki & Paul Reps, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

----------------------------------

Quote:

Most people only pursue wealth and status, but in the world how much can one acquire? The stars, the moon, mountains and flowing waters, each flower and blade of grass are all there for you to appreciate.

(Tsai Chih Chung, "The Book of Zen Freedom of The Mind")

The Thief Who Became a Disciple

image from: www.japanesegardens.jp

One evening as Shichiri Kojun was reciting sutras a thief with a sharp sword entered, demanding either money or his life.

Shichiri told him: “Do not disturb me. You can find the money in that drawer.” Then he resumed his recitation.

A little while afterwards he stopped and called: “Don’t take it all. I need some to pay taxes with tomorrow.”

The intruder gathered up most of the money and started to leave. “Thank a person when you receive a gift,” Shichiri added. The man thanked him and made off.

A few days afterwards the fellow was caught and confessed, among others, the offence against Shichiri. When Shichiri was called as a witness he said: “This man is no thief, at least as far as I am concerned. I gave him money and he thanked me for it.”

After he had finished his prison term, the man went to Shichiri and became his disciple.

(Paul Reps & Nyogen Senzaki, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

----------------------------------

quote:

"Putting aside the butcher's knife and instantly becoming a buddha" is extremely difficult to realize in practice. What power is it that compels one to lay down the butcher's knife? Compassion -- that is all.

(Tsai Chih Chung, "The Book of Zen -- Freedom of The Mind")

Voice of Happiness

image from: www.kyoto-machiya-inn.com

After Bankei had passed away, a blind man who lived near the master's temple told a friend: 

"Since I am blind, I cannot watch a person's face, so I must judge his character by the sound of his voice. 

Ordinarily when I hear someone congratulate another upon his happiness or success, I also hear a secret tone of envy. 

When condolence is expressed for the misfortune of another, I hear pleasure and satisfaction, as if the one condoling was really glad there was something left to gain in his own world."

"In all my experience, however, Bankei's voice was always sincere. Whenever he expressed happiness, I heard nothing but happiness, and whenever he expressed sorrow, sorrow was all I heard."

(Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

------------------------------------

Quote:

Before you say anything, ask yourself whether it's necessary or not. 

If it's not, don't say it.

This is the first step in training the mind — for if you can't have any control over your mouth, how can you expect to have any control over your mind?"

~ Ajahn Fuang Jotiko~

Learning to Be Silent

image from: www.mylittlenorway.com

The pupils of the Tendai school used to study meditation before Zen entered Japan. Four of them who were intimate friends promised one another to observe seven days of silence.

On the first day all were silent. Their meditation had begun auspiciously, but when night came and the oil lamps were growing dim one of the pupils could not help exclaiming to a servant: "Fix those lamps."

The second pupils was surprised to hear the first one talk. "We are not supposed to say a word," he remarked.

"You two are stupid. Why did you talk?" asked the third.

"I am the only one who has not talked," concluded the fourth pupil.

(Paul Reps & Nyogen Senzaki, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

----------------------

quote:

Many people, in admonishing others and pointing out their errors, very likely are themselves fallible.

(Tsai Chih Chung, "The Book of Zen Freedom of The Mind")

Everything is Best

image from: www.terebess.hu

When Banzan was walking through a market he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.

“Give me the best piece of meat you have,” said the customer.

“Everything in my shop is the best,” replied the butcher. “You cannot find here any piece of meat that is not the best.”

At these words Banzan became enlightened.

(Nyogen Senzaki & Paul Reps, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

----------------
quote:

Any moment is the best moment and any place, the best place. If only you perceive this whole -- heartedly ...

(Tsai Chih Chung, "The Book of Zen Freedom of The Mind")

Is That So?

image from: www.fineartamerica.com

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.

This made her parents very angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

In great anger the parents went to the master. "Is that so?" was all he would say.

After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the little one needed.

A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth - that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket.

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.

Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: "Is that so?" 

(Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

Empty Your Cup

image from: www.in.com

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?" 

(Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones")

---------------

Quote:

Those who are full of their opinions will be deaf to words of wisdom from others. In a discussion between two persons, what often happens is that each is intent on asserting his own views. As a result, apart from hearing his own voice or views, he does not learn anything else.

(Tsai Chih Chung, "The Book of Zen -- Freedom of The Mind")