The Monk Speaks

Tibet, Long Ago: There once was a monastery where the monks were not allowed to speak at all, except that every five years, if he wished to do so, each monk was permitted to speak two words. And so it was that, after his five years, the newest monk went to see the head monk.

"Very well," said the head monk. "What are the two words you'd like to speak?"

[Read more ... ]

Being Serious

I am reminded of a story. This monk, call him Joshu, always had difficulty being serious like a monk is supposed to be. And so every morning he would wake up and say to himself, "Joshu! Today ... be serious!"

And then he would answer, "Yes, sir! Yes, sir!"

Shedding Light on the Subject

Japan, Long Ago: The blind monk had spent the day visiting with a venerable master, high up in the mountains, and now the day was drawing to a close. The venerable master fetched the visitor's staff and his cloak, and said, "Wait! I have prepared a lantern for your trip down the path."

The blind monk laughed, saying, "Day and Night are alike to me. I do not need a lantern."

But the master persisted, saying, "It is not for you. Your feet are sure. It is for the protection of other travelers in the dark, that they might see your lantern and not bump into you."

"Oh," said the blind monk. "How thoughtful. Very well."

And holding the lantern on the end of his staff, he strode off into the night.

All went well for the first half of his journey.

[Read more ... ]

Basic Buddhism

India, Long Ago: Gautama Siddhartha sat beneath the Bo tree, and stubbornly refused to rise until he'd reached enlightenment. (He'd tried many other things in that past.) One day, he reached enlightenment. The enlightenment he attained permitted him to express the basic problem of living in Four Observations:

1) Our experience of living often consists of suffering. For example, we experience suffering from losses, illness, hunger, and death.

2) The suffering comes from our insistent mental reaction against the "bad" thing. That is, we insistently desire to have a thing that was lost, and so we experience suffering. (As an example, you throw away a piece of paper and it is lost but you do not suffer. But you lose the deed to your home and you insistently desire that the situation be different, and you suffer. But if you give away the deed to your home to your child, then you do not suffer.) The suffering comes from the "grasping desire" for the thing lost.

3) To eliminate suffering, eliminate the grasping desire.

4) To eliminate the grasping desire, follow eight important rules. In these rules (called the Eight-fold Path) are proscriptions against the things that often result in unhappiness (such as killing other folks), and prescriptions to engage in practices such as meditation, to learn to still the mind (and thus still grasping desire).

Get it? (Got it.) Good!

Bishop Nippo Syaku

San Francisco, 1975: I saw the flimsy poster, but it was quaint rather than crude. Bishop Nippo Syaku would give some short talks about Zen.

In the rawboned Victorian near Filmore street, poor lighting made the room seem drab, but Bishop Nippo lit up the place. The Bishop was a round-faced, cheerful fellow, very chipper he was. He spoke often of the nature of things.

"We say, 'Oh the flower is pretty!'" He beamed, "But flower does not care!"

On this evening, he spoke of how the True Buddhist is without fear. This amazed me, and made me ponder. I raised my hand.

"Yes?"

[Read more ... ]