|
Main Index
|
| |
| |
|
| |
place for an emperor. I will reject, absolutely and categorically, the very idea of a person being the ruler of the world -- I am included. Nobody has the right to rule over anybody else. Yes, you can serve. And I am serving in my own way. I have got my own empire, my own people, who are trying in every possible way to reach to the Himalayan peaks of consciousness.
Perhaps the poor journalist who wrote this question in QUICK will not be able to understand. The days of personal empires and emperors are over. The world needs all kinds of creative people to join together; forget the very idea of a world emperor. The whole history has been murderous, full of wars because of this insane desire to dominate.
My whole teaching is just be yourself, never interfere with anybody else's freedom. Freedom is my ultimate value, my god.
Now about the Zen master Sekito, meaning stonehead:
Niskriya, why have you sat down? Stand up, let everybody see what it means to have a stone head!
(NISKRIYA STANDS UP, TURNING AROUND TO THE ASSEMBLY, WHICH ENTHUSIASTICALLY APPLAUDS HIS HEAD!)
Okay, sit down.
ONCE THERE WAS A ZEN MASTER, SEKITO, SO CALLED BECAUSE HE CONSTRUCTED A HUT ON A BIG FLAT STONE WHICH HE FOUND IN A MOUNTAIN, AND LIVED THERE. ONE DAY A YOUNG MONK IN TRAINING CAME TO SEE HIM.
SEKITO ASKED: "WHERE HAVE YOU COME FROM?"
THE MONK ANSWERED, "FROM KOSEI, MASTER."
SEKITO THEN SAID: "IN KOSEI, THE FAMOUS ZEN MASTER, BASO, LIVES. HAVE YOU EVER SEEN HIM?"
"YES, I HAVE," THE MONK REPLIED.
THE MASTER, POINTING AT A BIG PIECE OF FIREWOOD NEARBY, THEN ASKED A MOST EXTRAORDINARY QUESTION: "DOES MASTER BASO LOOK LIKE THIS?"
UNFORTUNATELY, THE MONK, WITH WHATEVER ZEN ABILITY HE MIGHT HAVE HAD, WAS NO MATCH FOR SEKITO. HE BLINKED HIS EYES AND COULD NOT UTTER A WORD.
THE ASTONISHED MONK RETURNED ALL THE WAY BACK TO KOSEI, MET THE GREAT TEACHER BASO, AND TOLD HIM OF THE STORY.
HEARING IT, BASO ASKED, "WAS THE FIREWOOD YOU SAW BIG OR SMALL?"
"IT WAS VERY BIG," THE MONK ANSWERED.
"YOU ARE A MAN OF GREAT STRENGTH," WAS BASO'S UNEXPECTED REPLY.
"WHY, MASTER?" QUERIED
|
|
|
|
| |