KOAN and Haiku (03)

Koan and Haiku (03) - 公案と俳句

What is your original face
before your parents were born?


Click HERE to have a peek !!!


My Daruma and the Original Face

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tarachine no umarenu saki no tsuki akari

bright moonlight
before my mother
was even born

Nakagawa Mune-ichi
Tr. Gabi Greve



What is Your Original Face?
by Zen Master Wu Kwang

The word "recovery," according to the dictionary, means regaining something that was either stolen or lost. From a spiritual point of view, what you are actually recovering is your perception of something that you already possess. The thief is yourself, disabling you from seeing what you already possess.

Case number ten in the Mu Mun Kwan, "Cheong Sae is poor," illustrates this idea: A monk, Cheong Sae, approached Zen Master Chosan and said, "Master! I am poor and destitute. Please help me!" Zen Master Chosan, without hesitation, just called out the monk's name: "Cheong Sae!" And the monk, without thinking, responded, "Yes, sir!"
Zen Master Chosan then said, "It is as if you have already drunk three bottles of the best vintage wine in China, and yet act as if you have not even wet your lips."


Basho's famous enlightenment haiku points us in the same direction. Sitting by a pond, he is asked by the Zen Master to give something of his own words, rather than the regurgitated words of the Buddhas and patriarchs.
Basho is stuck.
He sits there for a long time in a sense of stillness or vacancy. All of a sudden, a frog jumps in the pond. Basho's mind opens up and he says: "Still pond, frog jumps in. Splash!"

Still pond, or emptiness, comes to life in the momentary perception of "Splash!", just as it does in Chong Sae's "Yes, sir!" Emptiness and fullness are then two sides of the same coin.

Read a lot more about this subject here:
What is Your Original Face? / Zen Master Wu Kwang

© The Kwan Um School of Zen

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Immortality does not beget wisdom.
Only mortality begets maturity.

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There are people in this world who have had enough adventures for several lifetimes. They are the closest conception we can have of immortals. Yet some of these people are hopelessly immature. After all, whenever life became difficult for them, they changed to a new path and by luck the new one was always rich and fruitful. Life came so easily that they took more than one helping.

Unfortunately, maturity only comes from the threat of mortality. Success only comes from the threat of failure. Without pressure, we would not plan, utilize wisdom, or exercise care. We realize that we have only a very short time to make an achievement, to prove that our existence was worthwhile, and so we strive harder. An immortal can never conceive of such effort.

It would be good if our religious traditions provided us with a foolproof way through life. After all, we live somewhat haphazardly: Our lives are a tapestry woven of both mistakes and successes. Religion doesn't always provide us with a meaningful pattern. We must make our decisions the best that we can, and as we mature, we can see our way better.

We are motivated by death. We are frightened by failure. We have to make our peace with this mysterious, sometimes hostile world. An immortal does not need to cope with any of this. But we mortals must, and we must strive to make a good showing for ourselves.

© 1995-2005 lisbeth west
http://www.duckdaotsu.org/105/maturity.html

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no need to cope
with immortality <>
just writing haiku

October 29, 2005

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KOAN and Haiku (01) .. 公案と俳句

KOAN and Haiku (02) .. Dreams 夢


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