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SOUTH of Savatthi is a great river, on the
banks of which lay a hamlet of five hundred houses. Thinking of the
salvation of the people, the World-honored One resolved to go to the village
and preach the doctrine. Having come to the riverside he sat down beneath a
tree, and the villagers seeing the glory of his appearance approached him
with reverence; but when he began to preach, they believed him not.
When the world-honored Buddha had left Savatthi Sariputta felt a
desire to see the Lord and to hear him preach. Coming to the river where the
water was deep and the current strong, he said to himself: "This stream
shall not prevent me. I shall go and see the Blessed One, and he stepped on
the water which was as firm under his feet as a slab of granite. When he
arrived at a place in the middle of the stream where the waves were high,
Sariputta's heart gave way, and he began to sink. But rousing his faith and
renewing his mental effort, he proceeded as before and reached the other
bank.
The people of the village were astonished to see Sariputta, and they
asked how he could cross the stream where there was neither a bridge nor a
ferry. Sariputta replied: "I lived in ignorance till I heard the voice of
the Buddha. As I was anxious to hear the doctrine of salvation, I crossed
the river and I walked over its troubled waters because I had faith. Faith.
nothing else, enabled me to do so, and now I am here in the bliss of the
Master's presence."
The World-honored One added: "Sariputta, you have spoken well. Faith
like yours alone can save the world from the yawning gulf of migration and
enable men to walk dryshod to the other shore." And the Blessed One urged to
the villagers the necessity of ever advancing in the conquest of sorrow and
of casting off all shackles so as to cross the river of worldliness and
attain deliverance from death. Hearing the words of the Tathagatha, the
villagers were filled with joy and believing in the doctrines of the Blessed
One embraced the five rules and took refuge in his name.
BHARADVAJA, a wealthy
Brahman farmer, was celebrating his harvest-thanksgiving when the Blessed
One came with his alms-bowl, begging for food. Some of the people paid him
reverence, but the Brahman was angry and said: "samana, it would be more
fitting for you to go to work than to beg. I plough and sow, and having
ploughed and sown, I eat. If you did likewise, you, too, would have
something to eat."
The Tathagatha answered him and said: "Brahman, if too, plough and
sow, and having ploughed and sown, I eat." "Do you profess to be a
husbandman?" replied the Brahman. "Where, then, are your bullocks? Where is
the seed and the plough?"
The Blessed One said: "Faith is the seed I sow: good works are the
rain that fertilizes it; wisdom and modesty are the plough; my mind is the
guiding-rein; I lay hold of the handle of the law; earnestness is the goad I
use, and exertion is my draught-ox. This ploughing is ploughed to destroy
the weeds of illusion. The harvest it yields is the immortal fruits of
Nirvana, and thus all sorrow ends." Then the Brahman poured rice-milk into a
golden bowl and offered it to the Blessed One, saying: "Let the Teacher of
mankind partake of the rice-milk, for the venerable Gautama ploughs a
ploughing that bears the fruit of immortality."
THERE was a householder's
son who went away into a distant country, and while the father accumulated
immeasurable riches, the son became miserably poor. And the son, while
searching for food and clothing, happened to come to the country in which
his father lived. The father saw him in his wretchedness, for he was ragged
and brutalized by poverty, and ordered some of his servants to call him.
When the son saw the place to which he was conducted, he thought, "I must
have evoked the suspicion of a powerful man, and he will throw me into
prison." Full of apprehension he made his escape before he had seen his
father.
Then the father sent messengers out after his son, who was caught and
brought back in spite of his cries and lamentations. Thereupon the father
ordered his servants to deal tenderly with his son, and he appointed a
laborer of his son's rank and education to employ the lad as a helpmate on
the estate. And the son was pleased with his new situation. From the window
of his palace the father watched the boy, and when he saw that he was honest
and industrious, he promoted him higher and higher.
After some time, he summoned his son and called together all his
servants, and made the secret known to them. Then the poor man was
exceedingly glad and he was full of joy at meeting his father. Just so,
little by little, must the minds of men be trained for higher truths.
THERE was a certain Brahman in Kosambi, a
wrangler and well versed in the Vedas. As he found no one whom he regarded
his equal in debate he used to carry a lighted torch in his hand, and when
asked for the reason of his strange conduct, he replied: 'The world is so
dark that I carry this torch to light it up, as far as I can." A samana
sitting in the market-place heard these words and said: "My friend, if your
eyes are blind to the sight of the omnipresent light of the day, do not call
the world dark. Your torch adds nothing to the glory of the sun and your
intention to illumine the minds of others is as futile as it is arrogant."
Whereupon the Brahman asked: "Where is the sun of which you speak?" And the
samana replied: "The wisdom of the Tathagatha is the sun of the mind. His
radiancy is glorious by day and night, and he whose faith is strong will not
lack light on the path to Nirvana where he will inherit bliss everlasting."
WHILE the Buddha was
preaching his doctrine for the conversion of the world in the neighborhood
of Savatthi, a man of great wealth who suffered from many ailments came to
him with clasped hands and said: "World-honored Buddha, pardon me for my
want of respect in not saluting you as I ought but I suffer greatly from
obesity, excessive drowsiness, and other complaints, so that I cannot move
without pain."
The Tathagatha, seeing the luxuries with which the man was surrounded
asked him: "Have you a desire to know the cause of your ailments?" And when
the wealthy man expressed his willingness to learn, the Blessed One said:
"There are five things which produce the condition of which you complain:
opulent dinners, love of sleep, hankering after pleasure, thoughtlessness,
and lack of occupation. Exercise self-control at your meals, and take on
yourself some duties that will exercise your abilities and make you useful
to your fellow-men. In following this advice you will prolong your life."
The rich man remembered the words of the Buddha and after some time
having recovered his lightness of body and youthful buoyancy returned to the
World-honored One and, coming afoot without horses and attendants, said to
him: "Master, you have cured my bodily ailments; I come now to seek
enlightenment of my mind."
And the Blessed One said: "The worldling nourishes his body, but the
wise man nourishes his mind. He who indulges in the satisfaction of his
appetites works his own destruction; but he who walks in the path will have
both the salvation from evil and a prolongation of life."
ONCE ON a time a baby boy
was born into a family of vegetable gardeners. When he grew up he cleared a
patch of land with his shovel and grew herbs, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers
and other vegetables. These he sold to earn a living, and the shovel was the
only thing he owned.
One day he thought, "What good does it do me to live as a gardener? I
will go and sit down in the forest. There I will be peaceful and happy." So
the gardener hid his shovel and sat down in the forest to get calmer and
calmer, for he liked the thought of that.
Before long he started to think about his shovel. When sitting among
trees, bushes and flowers he couldn't get it out of his mind, no matter how
he tried. Therefore he gave up just sitting in the forest to get calmer and
calmer, and went back to his shovel and his life as a vegetable gardener.
But in a little while he hid his shovel and went to the forest to
enjoy the calm again. But he could not get his shovel out of his mind this
time either, and returned to vegetable gardening. This happened six times.
The seventh time he gave up enjoying peace and quiet in the forest,
he understood he had to do something differently. He decided to throw away
the shovel into a deep river and went down to the riverbank with it,
thinking to himself,
"Let me not see where this shovel enters the water. Otherwise it may
tempt me again to give up sitting in peace and quiet in the forest."
The man closed his eyes, swung the shovel in a circle over his head
times, and let it fly into the large river. He would not be able to find the
shovel again, he thought, and shouted that he had won over it.
Just then the king of the country was riding by after bathing in the
river, and had just seated himself on a good horse among his noblemen. When
he heard the shouts of the gardener who had dispensed with his shovel, he
said to his ministers, "Listen. Someone shouts he has conquered. He has got
me curious, so bring him to me at once."
When they brought the shovel-less gardener to him, the king said, "I
am a conqueror, for I have won a battle. You say that you have conquered
too. Who?"
The man answered, "To me, conquering even a thousand armies is
meaningless if there are unhealthy thoughts and wishes in the mind! I for my
part won a battle against besieging, unhealthy thoughts today, sir."
The man added: "Defeating an enemy who returns to fight you again is
not good enough. But perhaps no one can take a really good victory and its
blessings from you!"
The king listened to these words and went on to ask, "So where are
you going now?"
The former gardener answered, "To the Himalayas to enjoy the blessed
calm of the forests there."
The king said, "I would like to enjoy peace and calm too. Please take
me with you."
He and his family and all his people followed the former gardener to
the Himalayas. The capital remained behind, completely deserted!
Lessons:
(1) When all people leave an OK city and settle in the country, the
country turns into a city - and not much is gained that way. To the
contrary.
(2) Don't get desperate and whimmish if you can't contemplate all
right. Learn instead the main techniques and train yourself in the use of
them.
A rich man had a very
large hut. The hut had only one entrance, and the timber it was made of had
dried out thoroughly over the years.
One day the hut caught fire, and the rich man's many children,
heedless of the fire, went on playing in the hut. Their father called to
them from outside that the hut was afire and that they would perish in the
flames if they did not come out. The children didn't know what "fire" and
"perish" meant, though, and went on playing as before. The man called out
once more,
"Come out children, and I'll give you presents!"
Eager for new playthings the children left the burning hut, to find
ox-drawn carriages awaiting all of them. - [Cf.
Lotus Sutra
Ch. 3]
The burning house: mundane existence;
Fire: the passions;
The rich man: Gautama Buddha;
The children: sentient beings;
Games the children play: sensual pleasures and the like.
The ox-drawn carriage: the vehicle of Bodhisattvas and Buddhas.
ONCE IN Martydom there was a couple so poor
that they had but one robe between them. When the husband would leave their
shack to seek work, his wife had to shut the door and stay home in the nude,
and the other way round.
One day the couple heard from wandering monks that charity would
quell the sufferings of poverty and want. The couple decided to give their
only piece of cloth by passing it through the window, and so they did. They
were determined to stay in the shack every day, all nude. But in the night
when the moon was bright and no one else to be expected out-of-doors, they
tackled certain abashments better.
The bizarre-looking actions of the night-roving couple came to the
awareness of the local ruler. He then showered them with clothes and riches.
From that time on they were never in want of what they needed, and in the
end were wholly freed from night-roving living habits.
Although it may be difficult to practice charity in poverty it is said to be
able to rout out the causes of many miseries. If we endure hardships of
giving all too much and of being thought of as jerks from then on, much
sallowness could be done away with.
ONCE ON a time a ruthless
monkey king ruled in the Himalayas over all his wives and children. But he
was afraid that one of his sons might grow up and take over as king; and
therefore he used to bite each son just after he was born. This made the
new-born too weak to challenge his father ever after.
Then one more of his wives got pregnant. To protect her coming child
she ran away to a forest at the foot of a distant mountain. There she gave
birth to a bright little baby boy monkey. Before long the baby grew up to be
big and strong.
One day he asked his mother, "Who is my father?"
She told him, "He is the king of a band of monkeys at the foot of a
giant mountain. That makes you a prince!"
The monkey prince said, "Mother, will you take me to him?"
First she refused, saying, "No my son, I am afraid to do so. Your
father bites all his sons in order to weaken them for life. He is afraid
that one of his sons will take his place as king."
The prince, "Don't be afraid for me, mother. I can take care of
myself."
This gave her confidence, so she agreed and took him to his father.
When the cruel old king saw his strong young son, he thought, "I have
no doubt that when this son of mine grows stronger he will take my kingdom
from me. So I must kill him while I can! I will hug him, pretending it is
out of love, but really I will squeeze him to death!"
The king welcomed his son, saying, "Ah, my son! Where have you been
all this time? I have missed you." Then he took him in his arms and hugged
him. He kept squeezing harder and harder, trying to squeeze the life out of
him, but the prince of monkeys was much stronger and hugged his father right
back. He squeezed him tighter and tighter, till he could feel the old king's
rib-bones starting to crack.
After this greeting, the monkey king was even more terrified. He
thought, "Nearby there is a pond owned by a water nix. It would be easy to
make him take my son and drown him. Then my problems would be over!"
Then he said, "Son, I am old and would like to hand over my band of
monkeys to a son that is as great as you. We need flowers for the crowning
ceremony, however. So go to the pond nearby and bring back two white water
lilies, three blue water lilies and five lotuses."
The prince of monkeys said, "Yes, I will go and get them."
When he came to the pond, he saw that there were many kinds of water
lilies and lotuses growing all over it. But instead of jumping right in and
picking them, he investigated carefully. He walked slowly along the bank. He
noticed there were footprints going into the pond, but none coming out.
After considering, he realised this was a sure sign that his father
must have sent him to drown as many others.
He investigated further till he found a narrow part of the pond.
There, with great effort, he was able to jump from one side clear across to
the other. In the middle of a leap he reached down and picked flowers
without actually getting into the water. Then he jumped back again, picking
more flowers. He continued jumping back and forth, collecting lots of
flowers.
Suddenly the nix stuck his head up above the water. He exclaimed, "In
all the time I've lived here I have never seen anyone as wise as you. You
have picked all the flowers you wanted without ever coming within my reach."
Then the nix made a path for himself through the water, came up to
the bank and said, "I see there are three qualities that make a person
better against enemies, after
�forewarned
is forearmed�.
It seems that you have all three of them. They are skill, courage and
wisdom. Thus, you must be hard to fool. Tell me now, why have you collected
all those flowers?"
The monkey prince answered, "My father wants to make me king instead
of himself. He sent me to gather these flowers for the crowning ceremony."
The nix said, "You are too noble to be burdened by carrying these
flowers. Let me carry them for you." He picked up all the flowers and
followed him.
From a distance the monkey king saw the nix carrying the flowers and
following the prince. He thought, "I sent him to get flowers, thinking he
would be grabbed by the nix. But instead he has made the nix serve him. I am
lost!"
The monkey king was so afraid all his unwholesome deeds had caught up
with him, that he panicked. It made him get a heart attack, and that was the
end of him.
The monkey band voted to make the young, unbeaten and unbitten prince
their new king.
IT is reported that two kingdoms were on the
verge of war for the possession of a certain embankment which was disputed
by them. And the Buddha seeing the kings and their armies ready to fight,
requested them to tell him the cause of their quarrels. Having heard the
complaints on both sides, he said:
"I understand that the embankment has value for some of your people;
has it any intrinsic value aside from its service to your men?"
"It has no intrinsic value whatever was the reply.
The Tathagatha continued: "Now when you go to battle is it not sure
that many of your men will be slain and that you yourselves, kings, are
liable to lose your lives?" And they said: "It is sure that many will be
slain and our own lives be jeopardized."
"The blood of men, however," said Buddha, "has it less intrinsic
value than a mound of earth?" "No," the kings said, "The lives of men and
above all the lives of kings, are priceless." Then the Tathagatha concluded:
care you going to stake that which is priceless against that which has no
intrinsic value whatever?-The wrath of the two monarchs abated, and they
came to a peaceable agreement.
References /
Literature:
Paz: Fromm, Erich: Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism.
Unwin. London, 1986
Tiy: Evans-Wentz, W. ed: Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines.
2nd ed. Oxford University. London, 1967.
Shz: Cleary, Thomas, tr: Shobogenzo: Zen Essays by Dogen.
University of Hawaii Press. Honolulu, 1986
Szd: Nishijima, Gudo Wafo and Cross, Chodo, trs.: Master
Dogen's Shobogenzo. Book 1. Woking, Surrey (UK), 1994.
Szi: Nishijima, Gudo Wafo and Cross, Chodo, trs.: Master
Dogen's Shobogenzo. Book 2. Windbell Publications. London, 1996.
Szm: Nishijima, Gudo Wafo and Cross, Chodo, trs.: Master
Dogen's Shobogenzo. Book 3. Windbell Publications. London, 1997.
Szp: Nishijima, Gudo Wafo and Cross, Chodo, trs.: Master
Dogen's Shobogenzo. Book 4. Windbell Publications. London, 1999.
Zaze: Kasamatsu, Akira and Hirai, Tomio: "An
Electroencephalographic Study on the Zen Meditation." Psychologia,
vol 12, 1969, p 205-25. Kyoto, Japan.
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