BY OVID (ADAPTED) Long ago, in the ancient world, there was born to the blue-eyed Nymph Liriope, a beautiful boy, whom she called Narcissus. An oracle foretold at his birth that he should be happy and live to a good old age if he "never saw ... Read more of Echo And Narcissus at Children Stories.ca

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Origin Of Zen In India
To-day Zen as a living faith can be found in its pure form on...

The Law Of Balance In Life
It is also the case with human affairs. Social positions hig...

Pessimistic View Of The Ancient Hindus
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The Development Of The Southern And Of The Northern School Of Zen
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Three Important Elements Of Zen
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Zen And Supernatural Power
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The Usual Explanation Of The Canon
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The Betterment Of Life
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Bodhidharma's Disciples And The Transmission Of The Law[fn#31]
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Buddha The Universal Life
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Enlightened Consciousness Is Not An Intellectual Insight
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Where Then Does The Error Lie?
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Decline Of Zen
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Zen And Nirvana
The beatitude of Zen is Nirvana, not in the Hinayanistic sens...

The Bad Are The Good In The Egg
This is not only the case with a robber or a murderer, but al...

The Parable Of A Drunkard
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The First Step In The Mental Training
Some of the old Zen masters are said to have attained to supr...

The Spiritual Attainment Of The Sixth Patriarch
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Idealism Is A Potent Medicine For Self-created Mental Disease
In so far as Buddhist idealism refers to the world of sense, ...

Man Is Both Good-natured And Bad-natured According To Yan Hiung
According to Yang Hiung and his followers, good is no less re...

Wang Yang Ming (o-yo-mei) And A Thief

One evening when Wang was giving a lecture to a number of students on
his famous doctrine that all human beings are endowed with
Conscience,[FN#168] a thief broke into the house and hid himself in
the darkest corner. Then Wang declared aloud that every human being
is born with Conscience, and that even the thief who had got into the
house had Conscience just as the sages of old. The burglar,
overhearing these remarks, came out to ask the forgiveness of the
master; since there was no way of escape for him, and he was
half-naked, he crouched behind the students. Wang's willing
forgiveness and cordial treatment encouraged the man to ask the
question how the teacher could know such a poor wretch as he was
endowed with Conscience as the sages of old. Wang replied: It is
your Conscience that makes you ashamed of your nakedness. You
yourself are a sage, if you abstain from everything that will put
shame on you. We firmly believe that Wang is perfectly right in
telling the thief that he was not different in nature from the sages
of old. It is no exaggeration. It is a saving truth. It is also a
most effective way of saving men out of darkness of sin. Any thief
ceases to be a thief the moment he believes in his own Conscience, or
Buddha-nature. You can never correct criminals by your severe
reproach or punishment. You can save them only through your sympathy
and love, by which you call forth their inborn Buddha-nature.
Nothing can produce more pernicious effects on criminals than to
treat them as if they were a different sort of people and confirm
them in their conviction that they are bad-natured. We greatly
regret that even in a civilized society authorities neglecting this
saving truth are driving to perdition those criminals under their
care, whom it is their duty to save.

[FN#168] It is not conscience in the ordinary sense of the term. It
is 'moral' principle, according to Wang, pervading through the
Universe. 'It expresses itself as Providence in Heaven, as moral
nature in man, and as mechanical laws in things.' The reader will
notice that Wang's Conscience is the nearest approach to
Buddha-nature.

Next: The Bad Are The Good In The Egg
Previous: The Parable Of The Robber Kih

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