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of good and bad, both. Innocence is simply innocence -- it knows no distinction.
The last story. It is about Ryokan -- the same master I was talking about a few days before, who burned the roof to save the bamboo shoot Ryokan was a great lover of children. As might be expected of such a character as he was, he himself was a child. He was the child Jesus speaks about. He was so innocent that it was almost unbelievable that a man can be so innocent. He had no cunning, no cleverness. He was so innocent that people used to think that he was a little mad.
He liked to play with children. He played hide-and-seek, he played tamari, hand-ball, too. One evening it was his turn to hide, and he hid himself well under a straw stack in the field. It was growing darker and the children, not being able to locate him, left the field.
Early in the following morning, a farmer came and had to remove the straw stack to begin his work. Finding Ryokan there, he exclaimed, 'Oh Ryokan-sama! What are you doing here?'
The master answered, 'Hush! Don't talk so loud, the children will find me.'
The whole night under that straw he is waiting for the children! Such innocence is Zen. And such innocence is divine. Such innocence knows no distinctions between good and bad, knows no distinctions between this world and that, knows no distinction between this and that. Such innocence is what suchness is.
And this suchness is the innermost core of religion.
Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol 2
Chapter #2
Chapter title: Selling Water by the River
22 June 1977 am in Buddha Hall
Archive code: 7706220
ShortTitle: PARAD202
Audio: Yes
Video: No
Length: 95 mins
Question 1
PEACE OF MIND CAN BE GAINED BY WITHDRAWAL FROM THE WORLD, BY STILLING THE VORTICES OF THE MIND. BUT HOW MUCH INNER PEACE IS APPROPRIATE IN A WORLD THAT CONTAINS ATTICA, VIETNAM, JOHANNESBURG, BIAFRA, PAKISTAN AND SUB-SAHARA AFRICA?
The world contains Vietnam, Attica, and things like that, because the peace of mind is missing. The root cause is that man is not silent. Hence violence, all kinds of violence.
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