| |
the disciples of the great Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen. When he came to the Master he was just on the verge of enlightenment -- as everybody is just on the verge. If you understand it... only one step, and you are enlightened; or not even one step -- just a blink. When Yoka came to his Master, the scriptures say he was just on the verge of enlightenment.
And I say to you everybody else is just the same -- on the verge. You can postpone it as long as you want, but the postponement is yours -- that is your decision; you can postpone it forever -- that is your freedom; otherwise you are on the threshold. You have always been on the threshold -- any moment you could have become enlightened, any moment you can become enlightened. Nothing is barring the path except your own decision.
But he was a unique man, unique in the sense that he was not ready to postpone any longer. When he came to Huineng only a little, just a gentle push was enough. He had slept long; the sleep was disappearing. He was just in that state when you are not asleep and not awake, and just a small dialogue with the Master, just a small exchange, a little encounter, and he became enlightened with no effort, no method. Just looking into the eyes of the Master... a few words pass between the Master and Yoka, and the dialogue is of immense significance.
I would like you to understand it. In fact, I would like you to have such an exchange with me.
Yoka Daishi walked around the Master three times without bowing and merely shook his Buddhist staff with iron rings.
The Master said 'A SHRAMANA, a Buddhist monk, embodies the three thousand rules of deportment and the eighty thousand minute moral rules. From whence does your honour come, may I ask, with your overweening self-assurance?'
When one comes to a Master one has to bow three times: that has been a traditional greeting. When you face an enlightened being you have to bow three times -- the body bows, the mind bows, the soul bows; you surrender utterly. That is just a gesture; it happens spontaneously. And when it happens spontaneously only then does it happen.
Just two, three nights before, Hema
|
|
|