“Are you a God? They asked. “No.”
“An angel?” “No.”
“A saint?” “No.”
Then what are you?”
Buddha answered, “I am awake.”
Satoru
The following is a story and the basis for a joke that circulated around the world for decades. The story, never fully understood or appreciated by the west made a joke of the man seeking “the meaning of life.”
A man goes to the Himalayas seeking truth and enlightenment. He spends weeks searching the hills for a reclusive master. He finally finds the master and asks that he be apprenticed to the master to find enlightenment. The master takes him down to a stream and bids the man to kneel besides the waters. He takes the mans head and holds it under the water. The master asks,
“Do you want to find enlightenment?”
The man now released answers, “Yes.”
The master again asks the question,
“Do you wish to find enlightenment?” as he again holds the mans head under water. This ritual is repeated all afternoon. Finally, after the master holds the man head under water for a particularly long time, to the point of almost drowning the man, the master asks the same question. This time the man, exhausted and almost drowned says, “No.”
What does this story mean or convey? One interpretation is that he didn’t really want to obtain enlightenment. Another is that the price for wisdom is usually too high. Another is that we do not really want to change our beliefs because we have too much invested in them. Another answer is that no one really, however baptized, wants to or can change. What does the story mean to you?
Satoru
Those who embrace mild and ethereal Zen should contemplate that the samurai who spent much of their lives in frightening and gory battles took Zen to their hearts.
Having reached Satori, and suffered the pain of death and rebirth, I share with you some adages, secret writings, proverbs, maxims, quotes, and ordinary expressions to challenge your thinking and, if read at a leisurely pace and given some concentration, enhance your existence. Please understand that I present to you a paraphrased, contradictory, extremely interpreted, simplification of the lengthily and circuitous route that can lead to Satori or enlightenment.
Satoru
Buddhism and Zen may be kissing cousins, but they are not married.
Sometimes virtuous practitioners have taught Buddhism like the gently nagging of a little old lady. Although teaching with love is always excellent my Zen master believed that in this day and age of rapid acceleration and the ability to absorb multiple images, even though Zen understanding deepens slowly, that we had better move along and keep the momentum. So he eliminated the ethereal, impractical sayings and gongans from his teachings and concentrated on the practical and operative aspects of Zen. He also asserted that although he was a Zen Buddhist that Buddhism and Zen may be kissing cousins, but they are not married and that Zen stands by itself, singularly like a different musical instrument.
The goal of Buddhism
The goal of Buddhism is to reach enlightenment (Nirvana) by extinguishing all the fires of craving. And/or embrace the divine (Satori) by being in the perfect now.
On the way to tranquility the seeker gains insight and learns through the Dhammapada, hundreds of discourses, sayings and precepts, the way of truth. The master believed that the softer side of religion was impractical, in this day and age of rapid change and alienation, and led to inner conflict so he emphasized the real over the ephemeral. Also, since he was Japanese he emphasized the Zen of his culture (existence and mood) and the Zen Buddhism of his teachings. He also asserted that, “The Zen of medieval Japan is as much use to us as a rusty old sword.”
Happiness and openness come from our own contented heart.
A Way To Live – ZEN 