Buddha's
World
- A
man walking across a field encounters a tiger. He fled, the tiger
chasing after him. Coming to a cliff, he caught hold of a wild vine and
swung himself over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above.
Terrified, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger had
come, waiting to eat him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by
little began to gnaw away at the vine. The man saw a luscious
strawberry near him. Grasping the vine in one hand, he plucked the
strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!
- Fa-yen,
a Chinese Zen teacher, overheard four monks arguing about subjectivity
and objectivity. He joined them and said: "There is a big stone. Do you
consider it to be inside or outside your mind?"
One of the
monks replied: "From the Buddhist viewpoint everything is an
objectification of mind, so I would say that the stone is inside my
mind."
"Your head must feel very heavy," observed Fa-yen, "if
you are carrying around a stone like that in your mind." - Two
monks were once travelling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was
falling. Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono
and sash, unable to cross the intersection.
"Come on, girl,"
siad the first monk. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the
mud.
The second monk did not speak again until that night when
they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain
himself. "We monks don't go near females," he said. "It is dangerous.
Why did you do that?"
"I left the girl there,: the first monk
said. "Are you still carrying her?" - Wealthy
patrons invited Ikkyu to a banquet. Ikkyu arrived dressed in his
beggar's robes. The host, not recognizing hin, chased him away. Ikkyu
went home, chaged into his ceremonial robe of purple brocade, and
returned. With great respect, he was received into the banquet room.
There, he put his robe on the cushion, saying, "I expect you invited
the robe since you showed me away a little while ago," and left.
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