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Zen And Supernatural Power
Yoga[FN#250] claims that various supernatural powers can be a...

No Need Of The Scriptural Authority For Zen
Some Occidental scholars erroneously identify Buddhism with t...

Life And Change
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Retribution In The Past The Present And The Future Life
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Buddha The Universal Life
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All The Worlds In Ten Directions Are Buddha's Holy Land
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The Eternal Life As Taught By Professor Munsterberg
Some philosophical pessimists undervalue life simply because ...

Epicureanism And Life
There are a good many people always buoyant in spirit and mir...

Everything Is Living According To Zen
Everything alive has a strong innate tendency to preserve its...

Where Then Does The Error Lie?
Where, then, does the error lie in the four possible proposit...

The Sermon Of The Inanimate
The Scripture of Zen is written with facts simple and familia...

Nature Is The Mother Of All Things
Furthermore, man has come into existence out of Nature. He i...

A Sutra Equal In Size To The Whole World
The holy writ that Zen masters admire is not one of parchment...

The Ancient Buddhist Pantheon
The ancient Buddhist pantheon was full of deities or Buddhas,...

Zazen And The Forgetting Of Self
Zazen is a most effectual means of destroying selfishness, th...

The Parable Of A Drunkard
Now the question arises, If all human beings are endowed with...

Three Important Elements Of Zen
To understand how Zen developed during some four hundred year...

The World Is In The Making
Our assertion is far from assuming that life is now complete,...

Zen In The Dark Age
The latter half of the Ashikaga period was the age of arms an...

The Method Of Instruction Adopted By Zen Masters
Thus far we have described the doctrine of Zen inculcated by ...

The Parable Of A Drunkard

Now the question arises, If all human beings are endowed with
Buddha-nature, why have they not come naturally to be Enlightened?
To answer this question, the Indian Mahayanists[FN#171] told the
parable of a drunkard who forgets the precious gems put in his own
pocket by one of his friends. The man is drunk with the poisonous
liquor of selfishness, led astray by the alluring sight of the
sensual objects, and goes mad with anger, lust, and folly. Thus he
is in a state of moral poverty, entirely forgetting the precious gem
of Buddha-nature within him. To be in an honourable position in
society as the owner of that valuable property, he must first get rid
himself of the influence of the liquor of self, and detach himself
from sensual objects, gain control over his passion, restore peace
and sincerity to his mind, and illumine his whole existence by his
inborn divine light. Otherwise he has to remain in the same plight
to all eternity.

[FN#171] Mahaparinirvana-sutra.

Lot us avail ourselves of another figure to explain more clearly the
point at issue. Universal Spirit may fitly be likened to the
universal water, or water circulating through the whole earth. This
universal water exists everywhere. It exists in the tree. It exists
in the grass. It exists in the mountain. It exists in the river.
It exists in the sea. It exists in the air. It exists in the cloud.
Thus man is not only surrounded by water on all sides, but it
penetrates his very body. But be can never appease his thirst
without drinking water. In like manner Universal Spirit exists
everywhere. It exists in the tree. It exists in the grass. It
exists in the ground. It exists in the mountain. It exists in the
river. It exists in the sea. It exists in the bird. It exists in
the beast. Thus man is not merely surrounded by Spirit on all sides,
but it permeates through his whole existence. But he can never be
Enlightened unless he awakens it within him by means of Meditation.
To drink water is to drink the universal water; to awaken
Buddha-nature is to be conscious of Universal Spirit.

Therefore, to get Enlightened we have to believe that all beings are
Buddha-natured--that is, absolutely good-natured in the sense that
transcends the duality of good and bad. One day, to cite an
example, Pan Shan (Ban-zan) happened to pass by a meat-shop. He
heard a customer saying: 'Give me a pound of fresh meat.' To which
the shopkeeper, putting down his knife, replied: Certainly, sir.
Could there be any meat that is not fresh in my shop?' Pan Shan,
hearing these remarks, was Enlightened at once.

Next: Shakya Muni And The Prodigal Son
Previous: Buddha-nature Is The Common Source Of Morals

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