May be

Once upon the time there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.

“Maybe,” the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.

“Maybe,” replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

“Maybe,” answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

“Maybe,” said the farmer.

My Thoughts: Accept whatever comes into your life, whether you expected or not. Live every moment. Buddha says "Accept the PAIN". Why should one accept the pain? Because you cannot avoid it. The only thing you can avoid is suffering from pain. Do not allow external world's happenings affect you.

The Other Side

One day a young Buddhist on his journey home came to the banks of a wide river. Staring hopelessly at the great obstacle in front of him, he pondered for hours on just how to cross such a wide barrier. Just as he was about to give up his pursuit to continue his journey he saw a great teacher on the other side of the river. The young Buddhist yells over to the teacher, "Oh wise one, can you tell me how to get to the other side of this river"?

The teacher ponders for a moment looks up and down the river and yells back, "My son, you are on the other side".

My Thoughts: According to Buddhism, crossing a river is compared to attaining Nirvana. Nirvana is a state of realizing "I" and attaining a spiritual satisfaction of knowing the SELF. To cross the river, a raft called "Dharma" is used. For a person who had attained Nirvana has no purpose to return back to the other side of the river; i.e., the side which ties you with paternal relations, materialistic world, etc. The wise man was reminding/indicating to the young Buddhist that after attaining Nirvana, returning back to home is unnecessary.

The First Principle

When one goes to Obaku temple in Kyoto he sees carved over the gate the words "The First Principle." The letters are unusually large, and those who appreciate calligraphy always admire them as being a masterpiece. They were drawn by Kosen two hundred years ago.

When the master drew them he did so on paper, from which workmen made the larger carving in wood. As Kosen sketched the letters a bold pupil was with him who had made several gallons of ink for the calligraphy and who never failed to criticize his master's work.

"That is not good," he told Kosen after the first effort.

"How is that one?"

"Poor. Worse than before," pronounced the pupil.

Kosen patiently wrote one sheet after another until eighty-four First Principles had been accumulated, still without the approval of the pupil.

Then, when the young man stepped outside for a few moments, Kosen thought: "Now is my chance to escape his keen eye," and he wrote hurriedly, with a mind free from distraction. "The First Principle."

"A masterpiece," pronounced the pupil.

My Thoughts: When a person is bound towards external world, he will be distracted by various happenings around him which includes criticism. When a person is bound towards his internal world, its his own...so it brings out all his capabilities with his own touch/style.

Great Waves

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 wresting. 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.

My Thoughts: The wrestler O-Nami was disturbed by multiple thoughts which had brought him fear of defeat within him which made him to fail in his public bouts. Defeating an opponent requires more inner strength than the strength of body. This can be compared to our normal life. In our life, we need to come across critical situations which requires a lot of internal strength to make it a win-win situation. Only the internal strength make you take the right decision at the right time. Most of them nowadays go against law or dharma when they face critical situations. This is due to the loss of internal strength. At this state FEAR will conquer you. The fear of loosing something will make our mind do unlawful deeds. All negative thoughts will break your inner strength.

Stingy in Teaching

A young physician in Tokyo named Kusuda met a college friend who had been studying Zen. The young doctor asked him what Zen was.

"I cannot tell you what it is," the friend replied, "but one thing is certain. If you understand Zen, you will not be afraid to die."

"That's fine," said Kusuda. "I will try it. Where can I find a teacher?"

"Go to the master Nan-in," the friend told him.

So Kusuda went to call on Nan-in. He carried a dagger nine and a half inches long to determine whether or not the teacher was afraid to die.

When Nan-in saw Kusuda he exclaimed: "Hello, friend. How are you? We haven't seen each other for a long time!"

This perplexed Kusuda, who replied: "We have never met before."

"That's right," answered Nan-in. "I mistook you for another physician who is receiving instruction here."

With such a beginning, Kusuda lost his chance to test the master, so reluctantly he asked if he might receive Zen instruction.

Nan-in said: "Zen is not a difficult task. If you are a physician, treat you patients with kindness. That is Zen."

Kusuda visited Nan-in three times. Each time Nan-in told him the same thing. "A physician should not waste time around here. Go home and take care of you patients."

It was not yet clear to Kusuda how such teaching could remove the fear of death. So on his fourth visit he complained: "My friend told me when one learns Zen one loses the fear of death. Each time I come here all you tell me is to take care of my patients. I know that much. If that is your so-called Zen, I am not going to visit you any more."

Nan-in smiled and patted the doctor. "I have been too strict with you. Let me give you a koan." He presented Kusuda with Joshu's Mu to work over, which is the first mind enlightening problem in the book called The Gateless Gate.

Kusuda pondered this problem of Mu (No-Thing) for two years. At length he thought he had reached certainty of mind. But his teacher commented: "You are not in yet."

Kusuda continued in concentration for another year and a half. His mind became placid. Problems dissolved. No-Thing became the truth. He served his patients well and, without even knowing it, he was free from concern over life and death.

Then when he visited Nan-in, his old teacher just smiled.

My Thoughts: When Kusuda asked about Zen, his friend replied "I cannot tell you what it is". This is right. TRUTH cannot be communicated through language. Language can only communicate thoughts not the true feelings. Zen is a practice of getting relieved from thoughts and understand "MU" ie., to understand the meaning or state of "No-Thing". Zen monks say that everything are made on 'nothing'. The most unrevealed secret in this world is to understand nothing. In order to understand Zen you will need to get rid of thoughts. The funny thing is that you can only explain your thoughts through language. How do you explain 'thoughtlessness' state through your language. There exists such a language which is nothing but 'Silence'. Zen can only be understood through practice. All that Zen master teaches may look funny or very simple until to realize what they ACTUALLY meant. Please read "Just Two Words" to understand what I said so far.

Shoan and His Mother

Shoun became a teacher of Soto Zen. When he was still a student his father passed away, leaving him to care for his old mother.

Whenever Shoun went to a meditation hall he always took his mother with him. Since she accompanied him, when he visited monasteries he could not live with the monks. So he would build a little house and care for her there. He would copy sutras, Buddhist verses, and in this manner receive a few coins for food.

When Shoun bought fish for his mother, the people would scoff at him, for a monk is not supposed to eat fish. But Shoun did not mind. His mother, however, was hurt to see the others laugh at her son. Finally she told Shoun: "I think I will become a nun. I can be a vegaterian too." She did, and they studied together.

Shoun was fond of music and was a master of the harp, which his mother also played. On full-moon nights they used to play together.

One night a young lady passed by their house and heard music. Deeply touched, she invited Shoun to visit her the next evening and play. He accepted the invitation. A few days later he met the young lady on the street and thanked her for her hospitality. Others laughed at him. He had visited the house of a woman of the streets.

One day Shoun left for a distant temple to deliver a lecture. A few months afterwards he returned home to find his mother dead. Friends had not known where to reach him, so the funeral was then in progress.

Shoun walked up and hit the coffin with his staff. "Mother, your son has returned," he said.

"I am glad to see you have returned, son," he answered for his mother.

"Yes, I am glad too," Shoun responded. Then he announced to the people about him: "The funeral ceremony is over. You may bury the body."

When Shoun was old he knew his end was approaching. He asked his disciples to gather around him in the morning, telling them he was going to pass on at noon. Burning incense before the picture of his mother and his old teacher, he wrote a poem:

For fifty-six years I lived as best I could,
Making my way in this world.
Now the rain has ended, the clouds are clearing,
The blue sky has a full moon.

His disciples gathered about him, reciting a sutra, and Shoun passed on during the invocation.

My Thoughts: Clearly this story (also see "Is That So?") is also an example that Zen monks are not manupulated by peoples' comments. This is because they are not mislead by external world. They are driven by their internal world. The monk knowing his last day and his verses "The blue sky has a full moon" indicates that (full moon = complete wisdom) he has complete wisdom.

Why Idol Worship

I asked what is "5+6"? A young man replied "11" immediately. I later went to a child and asked the same, he lifted his hands, started counting his fingers and after few seconds replied "11".

What did the child do? The young man having enough experience in simple mathematics, did not take any time and also did not use his fingers. But for the child, he visualized Numbers through his fingers to perform the calculation. Surely one day through practice, that child will stop using fingers but still be able to do the same calculation but also in a better and faster way. Using fingers for calculation has been one of the methodologies to understand mathematical calculations.

Now lets come to Idol worship. As the child used fingers to visualize numbers, we use Idols to visualize GOD. The child used fingers not to understand numbers but through numbers, understand the mathematical calculation. We need not understand GOD, we can use him to understand your SELF. At one stage surely, you will not require Idols to understand your SELF.

No Loving - Kindness

There was an old woman in China who had supported a monk for over twenty years. She had built a little hut for him and fed him while he was meditating. Finally she wondered just what progress he had made in all this time.

To find out, she obtained the help of a girl rich in desire. "Go and embrace him," she told her, "and then ask him suddenly: 'What now?'"

The girl called upon the monk and without much ado caressed him, asking him what he was going to do about it.

"An old tree grows on a cold rock in winter," replied the monk somewhat poetically. "Nowhere is there any warmth."

The girl returned and related what he had said.

"To think I fed that fellow for twenty years!" exclaimed the old woman in anger. "He showed no consideration for your need, no disposition to explain your condition. He need not have responded to passion, but at least he could have evidenced some compassion;"

She at once went to the hut of the monk and burned it down.

My Thoughts: Zen is a practice of getting rid of thoughts and emotions. One can either easily abandon or will take years. It depends upon one's mind.

If You Love, Love Openly

Twenty monks and one nun, who was named Eshun, were practicing meditation with a certain Zen master.

Eshun was very pretty even though her head was shaved and her dress plain. Several monks secretly fell in love with her. One of them wrote her a love letter, insisting upon a private meeting.

Eshun did not reply. The following day the master gave a lecture to the group, and when it was over, Eshun arose. Addressing the one who had written her, she said: "If you really love me so much, come and embrace me now."

My Thoughts: Zen is a meditation. Practicing your mind to get rid of external thoughts. You need to focus on your inside. LOVE, similar to anger, happiness, etc. is just a feeling which comes out of a chemical reactions in body. Ofcourse this reaction is initiated by our thoughts towards the externals. Zen is practicing your mind....its not so easy to control it...it takes long time. Eshun, by asking the monk to embrace her was not to proove his love for her but to remind him that he need to overcome the external thoughts.

Is That So?

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?"

My Thoughts: For monks as they do not depend on externl things, people's comments either good or bad do not affect them. They know who they are and they are never worried what others think of them. You can go through Obedience which also insists this. Zen is a practice on meditation through which you get rid of worldly thoughts. Zen monks try to empty their own thoughts to understand existence of 'Nothing'. When they are trying to empty their own thoughts, how will they accept others thoughts into them?

Obedience

The master Bankei's talks were attended not only by Zen students but by persons of all ranks and sects. He never quoted sutras nor indulged in scholastic dissertations. Instead, his words were spoken directly from his heart to the hearts of his listeners.
His large audiences angered a priest of the Nichiren sect because the adherents had left to hear about Zen. The self-centered Nichiren priest came to the temple, determined to debate with Bankei.
"Hey, Zen teacher!" he called out. "Wait a minute. Whoever respects you will obey what you say, but a man like myself does not respect you. Can you make me obey you?"
"Come up beside me and I will show you," said Bankei.
Proudly the priest pushed his way through the crowd to the teacher.
Bankei smiled. "Come over to my left side."
The priest obeyed.
"No," said Bankei, "we may talk better if you are on the right side. Step over here."
The priest proudly stepped over to the right
"You see," observed Bankei, "you are obeying me and I think you are a very gentle person. Now sit down and listen."

My Thoughts: Enlightened one will never expect respect from you. This is because they are not driven by external things. They rely on their internals. You can never overcome truth. This is why you can never overcome enlightened one's words.

I also get reminded of the Sanskrit word "Upanishad" which means "Sit near by", i.e., sit near by the teacher to start listening him. "Upanishad" is a collection of teachings. By saying 'sit nearby' I think the monk has considered the priest as his disciple.