From 101 ZEN STORIES

WHAT ARE YOU DOING! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!

In modern times a great deal of nonsense is talked about masters and disciples, and about the inheritance of a master's teaching by favorite pupils, entitling them to pass the truth on to their adherents. 

Of course Zen should be imparted in this way, from heart to heart, and in the past it was really accomplished. Silence and humility reigned rather than profession and assertion. The one who received such a teaching kept the matter hidden even after

twenty years.

Not until another discovered through his own need that a real master was at hand was it learned that the teaching had been imparted, and even then the occasion arose quite naturally and the teaching made the way in its own right. Under no circumstance did the teacher even claim ''I am the successor of So-and-so.'' Such a claim would prove quite the contrary.

The Zen master Mu-nan had only one successor. His name was Shoju. After Shoju had completed his study of Zen, Mu-nan called him into his room. ''I am getting old,'' he said,''and as far as I know, Shoju, you are the only one who will carry on this teaching. Here is a book.  It has been passed down from master to master for seven generations. I also have added many points according to my understanding. The book is very valuable, and I am giving it to you to represent your successorship.''

''If the book is such an important thing, you had better keep it,'' Shoju replied.'' I received your Zen without writing and am satisfied with it as it is.'' 

''I know that,'' said Mu-nan. '' Even so, this work has been carried from master to master for seven generations, so you may keep it as a symbol of having received the teaching. Here.'' 

The two happened to be talking before a brazier. 

The instant Shoju felt the book on his hands he thrust it into the flaming coals. He had no lust for possessions. Mu-nan, who never had been angry before, yelled: ''What are you doing!'' Shoju shouted back :''What are you saying!''


(from the book, ZEN FLESH, ZEN BONES, compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki)

CLONING THE BUDDHA

''In February 1997, the announcement of the birth of a sheep named Dolly - the world's first cloned mammal - provoked a firestorm of controversy. Could the same technique be used to make genetic copies of humans? Would the coming millennium see the realization of Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World' - a fictional dystopia in which batches of identical human embryos are grown in state-run 'hatcheries'?

  In December 1997, an eccentric physicist-turned-gene doctor named Richard Seed announced on national radio that he intended to open a human cloning clinic in the Chicago area. ''Clones are going to be fun,'' he later blithely commented to an audience at a Chicago law school symposium on reproduction. ''I can't wait to make two or three of my own self.''

(From ''Cloning the Buddha - The Moral Impact of Biotechnology'' by Richard Heinberg) 

WHAT IS WABI SABI?

''Wabi sabi is fundamental to the aesthetic sense and gentle nature of Japanese people. It is a world view that guides the way they experience life, although it is rarely discussed. Its influence is everywhere, and yet it is nowhere to be seen. People instinctively know what the concept of wabi sabi represents, but few can articulate that.

  Wabi sabi is a fascinating enigma, which promises to whisper potent wisdom to those who slow down enough to investigate, and approach with an open heart.''

(Beth Kempton: WABI SABI, JAPANESE WISDOM FOR A PERFECTLY IMPERFECT LIFE)

The Koans in the Soto sect of Zen

Assuming you solve ''Amban's Addition'', the last koan of the book ''Zen Flesh, Zen Bones'', you also solve the koan which precedes it, ''One road of Kembo''.

ON ZEN AND THE PLASMATIC SPHERES

  ''Υπάρχει μια φράση: 'Ρίξε μια σφαίρα σε ένα ορμητικό ρεύμα και δεν θα σταματήσει ποτέ'. Τούτο σημαίνει ότι αν ρίξεις μιά σφαίρα στα ορμητικά νερά ενός ποταμού, θα κινηθεί επιπλέοντας στα κύματα και δε θα σταματήσει πουθενά.''

("THE UNFETTERED MIND'' by Takuan Soho, 1995)

AS TO A COMPARATIVE RELIGION STUDY

''It has been said that no man understands any one religion until he has studied two. It might be further said that no man understands any one religion until he has reasonably studied all, and compiled from them a 'common denominator' of essential principles.''

 

(From CHRISTMAS HUMPHREY's  'Studies in the Middle Way',

1984, The Buddhist Society London)

Zoroastrianism

'' The most important of all outstanding facts of Iranian history is the religious reform brought about Zarathustra. He was the first man we know who gave a definitely moral character and direction to religion, and at the same time preached the doctrine of monotheism, which offered an eternal foundation of reality to goodness as an ideal of perfection...

   When I conceived of Thee, O Mazda, as the first and last, as the most adorable One, as The Father of Good Thought, as the creator of Truth and Right, as the Lord Judge of our actions in life, then I made a place for Thee in my very eyes.''

(THE DIVINE SONGS OF ZARATHUSTRA, 
D.J. Irani and Sir Rabindranath Tagore, 

First published in 1924, Kessinger Publishing)