Elephant and Flea
Elephant and Flea
Roshi Kapleau agreed to educate a group of psychoanalysts about Zen. After being introduced to the group by the director of the analytic institute, the Roshi quietly sat down upon a cushion placed on the floor. A student entered, prostrated before the master, and then seated himself on another cushion a few feet away, facing his teacher. "What is Zen?" the student asked. The Roshi produced a banana, peeled it, and started eating. "Is that all? Can't you show me anything else?" the student said. "Come closer, please," the master replied. The student moved in and the Roshi waved the remaining portion of the banana before the student's face. The student prostrated, and left.
A second student rose to address the audience. "Do you all understand?" When there was no response, the student added, "You have just witnessed a first-rate demonstration of Zen. Are there any questions?"
After a long silence, someone spoke up. "Roshi, I am not satisfied with your demonstration. You have shown us something that I am not sure I understand. It must be possible to TELL us what Zen is."
"If you must insist on words," the Roshi replied, "then Zen is an elephant copulating with a flea."
People's reactions to this story:
"What an image this story brings to mind! I see that the infinite universe as large as that may be, is equally matched by the infinite microscopic world, joining the two in perfect harmony."
"On a first reading, the final line suggests that Zen is profane or absurd. Surely this cannot be what the Roshi intended to convey. Perhaps what the Roshi means is that putting Zen into words is profane or absurd."
"Some things are better learned through observation....Words only skew ones ability to establish an honest and personal opinion."
"Describe the colour red to a man who has been blind from birth. Zen is more than words, fitting it into the confinement of language is like an elephant trying to copulate with a flea. It just wouldn't fit."
"Zen is Zen and if you understood it you would not ask."
"He is saying in symbolism how futile it is to understand Zen if you believe you can learn it through words when the only way to truly understand is through actions and feelings. This story realy makes you think."
"Maybe Its inconceivable!"
"To attempt to put Zen into words is as impossible as an elephant copulating with a Flea."
"On top of a flagpole a cow gives birth to a calf."
"My reaction to the story is that trying to explain Zen in words, or even with observations, is as impossible as an 'elephant copulation with a flea.' Also, to be able to explain meaning of Zen in words is an admission that one does not understand the meaning of Zen."
"This reminds me of the story of the Master who asked his student to comment on a skein of geese flying overhead. The student said they were flying South for winter - the Master beat him. The student then said they were coming from the North and the same happened. he tried again and again and each time the student's attempt at description was rewarded with a beating. The point being that the student could not describe what he saw only what his belief systems told him what the geese might be doing. Words are often not sufficient, observation and inner understanding may be the only path."
"The Roshi's imagery is spot on: Zen is impossible to explain in the talk, talk, talk of psycoanalysis."
"The Roshi was certainly in a state of transe when he ate the banana because of its taste. Then he wanted to share its smell, waving it to the student. But the student didn't used the right sense and expected an answer from his ears instead of his nose. Anyway the one that was enlightened in this story was certainly the flea...."
"This story is kind-of confusing, but I think it's saying that actions speak louder than words. If only people would stop and listen."
"What I'd like to know is, was the flea on top?"
.
Gutei's Finger
Gutei's Finger
Whenever anyone asked him about Zen, the great master Gutei would quietly raise one finger into the air. A boy in the village began to imitate this behavior. Whenever he heard people talking about Gutei's teachings, he would interrupt the discussion and raise his finger. Gutei heard about the boy's mischief. When he saw him in the street, he seized him and cut off his finger. The boy cried and began to run off, but Gutei called out to him. When the boy turned to look, Gutei raised his finger into the air. At that moment the boy became enlightened.
People's reactions to this story:
"I don't get this at all."
"I guess Gutei doesn't believe that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
"I like this story, for some reason, but I don't know what it means."
"Gutei is just trying to dominate and control the kid."
"Whose finger did Gutei hold up at the end - the boy's or his own?"
"Did the boy become enlightened because of Gutei, or just because his finger got cut off."
"This story hurts!"
"Yuck!"
"Weird!"
"You can't imitate or own enlightenment."
"Imitation is no substitute for real knowledge and truth."
"When you lose the single most important thing that means enlightenment to you, maybe that's when you REALLY become enlightened."
"You don't know what you've got till it's gone."
"I don't entirely understand this story, but I do believe that the finger pointed in the air might represent "one", as in "not two"..
"In the end the boy realized Gutei uses his index finger, not his middle finger. Gutei took exception to the boy using his middle finger."
"I sense that this story does tell a great truth, but I just can't see it in the darkness inside my head. I guess if I were enlightened, I could."
"When you can no longer point at truth, maybe that's when you see it most clearly."
"Stories like this make me want to lash out. Gutei becomes the enlightener, when maybe he should just lighten up. Now we know the reason for lawyers, To sew crazy old self appointed wise men that carry pocket knives."
John Suler, Ph.D. ? 1997 All rights reserved.
پرواز پروانه
تائویست بزرگ، چانگ تزو یک بار در خواب دید، پروانه ایست که به این جا و آن جا بال می زند. در رویایش هیچ از اطلاعی ازهویت خود به عنوان یک آدم نداشت. او فقط یک پروانه بود. ناگهان از خواب بیدار شد و خودش را در آنجا دراز کشیده یافت، او دوباره یک آدم بود. آنگاه با خودش فکر کرد ،"قبلن انسانی بودم که خواب پروانه بودن را می دید م ، یا الان پروانه ای هستم که خواب آدم بودن را می بینم". Dreaming The great Taoist master Chuang Tzu once dreamt that he was a butterfly fluttering here and there. In the dream he had no awareness of his individuality as a person. He was only a butterfly. Suddenly, he awoke and found himself laying there, a person once again. But then he thought to himself, "Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being a man?" پیام های خود را اینجا بنویسیدسرنوشت
در طول یک جنگ مهم، یک زنرال ژاپنی تصمیم گرفت که به دشمن یورش ببرد ولو اینکه تعدادافراد سپاه او بیشتر بودند.
او به پیروزی سپاهش اطمینان داشت، اما سربازها دچار تردید بودند. در راه نبرد، آنها در یک معبد مذهبی توقف کردند. بعد از دعا همراه سربازان، ژنرال سکه ای بیرون آورد و گفت :"حالا شیر یا خط می کنیم،اگر شیر آمد ما پیروز می شویم . اگر خط آمد شکست خواهیم خورد". سرنوشت معلوم خواهد شد.
او سکه را به هوا پرتاب کرد و همه مشتاقانه تا به زمین برسد آن را نگاه می کردند. شیر آمد. سربازها خیلی خوشحال و سرشار ازاطمینان شدند ،چنان که با قوت تمام به دشمن یورش بردند و پیروز شدند
پس از جنگ یک ستوان به ژنرال اظهار کرد:" کسی قادر به تغییر سرنوشت نیست"
"کاملن درسته"زنرال همانطوری که سکه را به ستوان نشان می داد این پاسخ را داد ، سکه ای که هر دو رویش شیر بود.
Christian Buddha
Christian Buddha
One of master Gasan's monks visited the university in Tokyo. When he returned, he asked the master if he had ever read the Christian Bible. "No," Gasan replied, "Please read some of it to me." The monk opened the Bible to the Sermon on the Mount in St. Matthew, and began reading. After reading Christ's words about the lilies in the field, he paused. Master Gasan was silent for a long time. "Yes," he finally said, "Whoever uttered these words is an enlightened being. What you have read to me is the essence of everything I have been trying to teach you here!"
(In another version of this story, it is a Christian who reads the Bible passage to Gasan.)
People's reactions to this story:
"It's so sad that wars are fought over differences in "religion," when in reality all the world's religions are saying the same essential things. If nations really took religion to heart, so many lives would be saved."
"If what is true for you is true, and what is true for me is true, than really nothing is true. If there are no absolutes in the universe higher than our own opinions or experiences, than we live on an ever shifting sand. True truth is true whether we know it, or believe it. It is absolute, unchanging, and independent of our reactions to it. God is God and we are not him. I believe this story is an attempt to dilute the hard division line that the Bible deliberately draws. Our culture trys to offer solutions that do not offend anyone. I wonder how Master Gasan would react to Christ's words "no one may come to the Father but by me." Or "the kingdom of heaven advances violently, and violent men lay hold of it."?"I think this is saying that a great lesson can come out of one short story. Something that someone is searching for desperately can be revealed in one simple story."
"This story held no interest for me. I don't believe in the existence of God and therefore believe that the Bible is a bunch of bologna!"
"Universalism is an extremely faulty world view. All the worlds religions do not teach the same thing. Religion is not about being good to your fellow man, or doing nice things to other people. So many of these comments seem to think that because most religions teach that, in general, you should'nt kill people, and you should'nt steal, and that you should feed the poor, etc., that its all the same thing. That misses the point entirely, and trivializes a vast amount of the most deeply held beliefs of the world's populace. Religion is about what you are, or at least the part of you that is you and not just molecules combined together in unique ways. The most important question that religion tries to answer are "How should we act towards other people?" but "How should we act towards God?" How we act towards others is a by-product of our relationship to the Divine." "There is only One God!"
"Master Gasan found a pleasant verse. How would he have responded to less beautiful Revelations or Oholibah in Ezekial 23:10.""Every religion has an awareness of the basic ethical principles that govern humanity. Anything else that a religion teaches is not about the human but about the divine."
"There is nothing even slightly Zen about this 'story.' It is an embarrassing, childish attempting to usurp the notion of Zen to endorse an unenlightened acceptance of Christian dogma without study, introspection, or question. Sad you published it. I admire both Christ and Buddah greatly, but this is catechism, rote dogma, not enlightenment."
"I think Gasan was so relieved that he finally got his point across to the monks!"
"This situation is similar to thinking about different races. People may look different on the outside, but when you look on the inside, everyone is basically the same."
"This story gives me a feeling of unity with everyone - I like that."
"This story is BORING! It begins nowhere and ends the same way. Shouldn't the essence of his teachings be understandable so we all can be enlightened as well? Master Gasan sounds like a fake or a very poor teacher"
"It sounds like Master Gasan has no idea of what he is talking about."
"Different people may be trying to convey the same message to others, but are going about it in different ways. I think that's good - diversity is good."
"We should always be learning. No one knows everything."
"Anyone can be a teacher."
"Gasan realizes that the monk's might become interested in what the Bible says, so he tries to act like he understands and believes in the Bible. He is trying to get the monks to respect him and think that these words and thoughts were also his."
"Cultural prejudices prevent us from seeing the Universals. It is irrational to think that a different truth applies to everyone."
"All races across the world are teaching the same ideas through religion, but one person's way of teaching may differ from another."
"I think the story is trying to say that we can ALL be right - or that sometimes a person needs to leave their usual surroundings in order to see and understand what's in front of their face."
"How could Master Gasan never have read the Bible? Maybe that's the point of the story - even a Zen master can be illiterate."
"I read this story twice and didn't like it. I felt like I needed more, but I wasn't sure what."
"This story seems choppy and unfinished."
"'Lillies of the field' is a rather zen story, encouraging naturalness acceptance of being.""It is interesting that when presented with the Bible, the Master was open to listening. I don't find the same to be true when the situation is reversed,
. It feels very comfortable to me to be Buddhist and still feel at peace with others who do not share my views." "Maybe the point is that we don't need Bibles OR Zen teachers to find enlightenment. We already have it within ourselves."
"This comment is not about the story but about the other comments: Taken collectively, they illustrate Martin Luther's observation, 'A book is like a mirror -- if an ape looks in, no saint will look out!'"