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bless all kinds of seeking on all paths.
Before the sutras, a little biographical note:
KAKUSAN WAS A DISCIPLE OF KYOZAN. AFTER HIS ENLIGHTENMENT HE LIVED ON MOUNT KAKU FROM WHICH HIS NAME IS DERIVED -- KAKUSAN.
WHEN HE WAS ABOUT TO DIE, KAKUSAN COLLECTED A PILE OF FIREWOOD DEEP IN THE FOREST. AT NOON HE REFUSED HIS MEAL, WENT TO THE PILE OF WOOD, LIT IT AND CLIMBED ON TOP.
KAKUSAN THEN PUT HIS UMBRELLA BEHIND HIS HEAD TO MAKE A HALO. THUS HE ENDED HIS LIFE IN THE FLAMES, HOLDING OUT HIS STAFF LIKE THE DEMON-SUBDUING VAJRA.
Standing, he died in the fire. It must have been a very strange sight: when the fire cooled, he was still standing -- utterly burned, dead, but holding his staff straight. That staff has made many seekers enlightened.
It has to be remembered that a man of the quality of Kakusan I call a religious man. Only one who knows his life can know his death; they are two sides of the same coin. If you have never known life, you will never know death. And to miss life and death and the whole beauty of both is to miss the very meaning of existence.
The sutra:
BELOVED BUDDHA,
ONCE KAKUSAN WENT TO SEE KYOZAN. RAISING HIS FOOT, KAKUSAN SAID, "THE TWENTY-EIGHT INDIAN PATRIARCHS WERE LIKE THIS" -- standing on one foot....
The meaning of it is: utter balance, no trembling inside, utter silence.
I am reminded of one of the most important disciples of Gautam Buddha, Vimalkirti. He was a great philosopher. When for the first time he came to see Buddha, he was very proud of his philosophical trainings. He said to Buddha, "You talk so much about freedom. What is freedom?"
Buddha said to Vimalkirti, "You can lift up one of your feet and stand on the other." He lifted his left foot up and was standing on the right foot when Buddha said, "Now, lift the right foot up also."
Vimalkirti said, "What nonsense! One foot is enough, two feet is impossible."
Buddha said, "You seem to be a man of understanding."
Freedom is standing on one foot; the other foot is responsibility. Freedom brings tremendous responsibility -- not in the old sense that you have been told about, not
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