Zen story: Forgotten Identity

                                     

Friends, please reflect on this old Zen story ….

Once a pilgrim mounted his horse and crossed formidable mountains and swift rivers seeking a famous wise man, in order to ask him how to find true enlightenment. After months of searching, the pilgrim located the teacher in a cave.

   

                                           

The Master listened to the question and said nothing. The seeker waited….

Finally, after hours of silence, the Master looked at the steed on which the pilgrim had arrived, and asked the pilgrim why he was not looking for a horse instead of enlightenment.

                                         

The pilgrim was surprised and said that, obviously he already had a horse. The Master just smiled and retreated into his cave….! He had given the answer.

Moral of the Story …..

This story is quite significant and packed with meaning.

The Master clearly indicated that, “You are already a Buddha. Why are you searching for it?”

Friends, this is the great declaration of all the religions. We have simply forgotten our own identity. We don’t know who we are. Hence all this seeking. It is impossible to find outside, hence the frustration.

                                  

Instead of seeking, one should just start looking at the reality as it is. This is the real meaning of Zen saying, ”Be here & now” ….Look in to the reality. In fact, nothing is missing, everything is already here. One should avoid creating an ideal, otherwise the ideal will mislead ….

Have Great Day Friends!

Sangeeta Hegde

                                         

Being Natural

There was a famous Zen temple and a priest was in charge of the garden around the temple. The priest loved the flowers, shrubs, and trees, hence he was entrusted with this job. Next to the temple there was another small temple where there lived a very old Zen master.

One day, the priest was expecting some special guests, so he took extra care in tending the garden. He pulled the weeds, trimmed the shrubs, combed the moss, and spent a long time meticulously raking up and carefully removing all the dry autumn leaves. As he worked, the old Zen master watched him with interest from across the wall that separated the two temples.

When he had finished, the priest stood back to admire his own work. "Isn't it beautiful," he called out to the old master.

"Yes," replied the old man, "but still there is something missing. Help me over this wall and I'll put it right for you."

After hesitating, the priest lifted the old fellow over the wall and set him down. Slowly, the master walked to the tree near the center of the garden, grabbed it by the trunk, and started shaking it. All the dry leaves showered down all over the garden.

"There! It looks natural now," said the old Zen master, "you can put me back on the other side!"

Moral of the Story ...

Friends, one should drop pretensions, hypocrisies, drop all that has been cultivated around one’s natural being and just become natural.

The emptiness is created by throwing away the artificial things, pretensions and masks. The natural being starts flowing in that moment. It needs space, so as to become empty, loose and natural.

To be natural is the most fundamental principle of one’s life.

Enjoy the Day Friends!

No Preferences

The "Way" is not Difficult  for Someone, who is Without Preferences.......

A Zen Teaching

 

What makes the journey difficult is the intrinsic tendency of our dualist minds to classify things, events and people, either as good or bad, desired or undesired, pleasant or unpleasant, etc. This Classification leads to Comparison, Comparison leads to Dissatisfaction and hence Life results in Unhappiness...Misery.....Suffering.When we totally accept "What Is as Is" or as a reflection of the perfect mechanism, we start perceiving the unity beyond all the dualities and hence all the preferences lose their meaning and their importance in our lives.

Awareness.

The Zen students remain with their masters at least for ten years before they themselves are ready to teach others.

Once the great Zen master Nan-in, was visited by his student Tenno, who had passed his apprenticeship and had become a teacher. It was a rainy day and Tenno was wearing wooden clogs in his feet and was also carrying an umbrella.

After greeting his student Tenno, the master said, 'I am sure, you have left your wooden clogs and umbrella in the vestibule outside. I want to know, whether your umbrella is on the right side or on the left side of your clogs.'

Tenno was little confused as he had no instant answer. He realized that, he had missed the basic teaching and could not follow “Every Minute Zen” ... The Choiceless Awareness....To be in the present every moment....

Therefore, Tenno once again became Nan-in's student and studied for six more years to accomplish his “Every Minute Zen”.

Moral of the Story ....

Friends, awareness means one lives with an inner light and every moment moves with total awareness, fully alert. Walking, talking, sitting, eating, chewing .... each step is taken with full awareness....not a single moment is missed out.....

Very few people reach this state and those are the people who even die in awareness. If the death is conscious, the birth also will be conscious, because the death and the birth are the two sides of the same coin.

Friends, awareness is not a quality or a characteristic, it is one’s whole being. When one learns the magic of living in awareness, there is no choice left to be otherwise.

Have a Blissful Day Friends !!