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Main Index
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TO HOW TO TAKE IT.
BASO THEN SAID: "YOU HAVE BROUGHT HERE SUCH A BIG PIECE OF FIREWOOD ALL THE WAY FROM SEKITO. YOU SURELY ARE A MAN OF GREAT STRENGTH, AREN'T YOU?"
Baso is saying nothing about the firewood. He is talking about the thought the poor monk has carried from one mountain to another mountain. Sekito has not meant the firewood. He simply meant: THIS. It was just by chance that there was a pile of firewood. But he was pointing to this, not to the firewood.
The monk missed the point. He thought perhaps Baso might be able to explain. But again he missed. Because Baso said nothing about the firewood, nothing about Sekito, but about the strength of the monk -- which seemed to be absolutely irrelevant.
But Baso is right. He is saying, "You unnecessarily carried such a load from mountain to mountain." Sekito has not pointed to the firewood, he has pointed to thisness of things, to suchness of things.
The whole of Zen is concerned with this...
A footnote:
BASO -- ALSO CALLED MA TSU -- WAS SAID TO BE A STRANGE-LOOKING MAN. "HE WALKED LIKE A COW AND LOOKED AROUND LIKE A TIGER. HE COULD TOUCH HIS NOSE WITH HIS TONGUE AND HAD TWO RINGS ON THE SOLES OF HIS FEET." HIS CHIEF DISCIPLES WERE HYAKUJO -- we talked about him yesterday -- AND NANSEN, we talked about him also. HIS DISCIPLES NUMBERING IN ALL MORE THAN A HUNDRED.
One hundred people became enlightened under Baso. He defeated even Gautam Buddha. He defeated even Bodhidharma. But his method was as unique as his style. Do you see that he walked like an animal? Signifying the natural, the innocent; signifying no head, no headiness, but only a heart that can understand without being told, that can understand without a single word being said.
He was certainly one of the most strange masters who has walked on the earth. Nobody has walked like a cow; not even in ten thousand years has any Hindu -- who worship cows -- tried to walk like a cow.
But don't be mistaken about his walking like a cow. It shows his softness, it shows his motherliness, it shows his feminine receptivity. But he also looked around like a tiger. He was soft for those who could understand
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