Buddhism The Second And The Third Patriarchs
After the death of the First Patriarch, in A.D. 528, Hwui Ko ...
Life And Change
A peculiar phase of life is change which appears in the form ...
Do Thy Best And Leave The Rest To Providence
There is another point of view which enables us to enjoy life...
The Ten Pictures Of The Cowherd
The pictures were drawn by Kwoh Ngan (Kaku-an), a Chinese...
Poetical Intuition And Zen
Since Universal Life or Spirit permeates the universe, the po...
The Resemblance Of The Zen Monk To The Samurai
Let us point out in brief the similarities between Zen and Ja...
Idealistic Scepticism Concerning Religion And Morality
Similarly, it is the case with religion and morality. If we ...
Where Then Does The Error Lie?
Where, then, does the error lie in the four possible proposit...
Sutras Used By Zen Masters
Ten Dai failed to explain away the discrepancies and contradi...
The Social State Of Japan When Zen Was Established By Ei-sai And Do-gen
Now we have to observe the condition of the country when Zen ...
Zazen Or The Sitting In Meditation
Habit comes out of practice, and forms character by degrees, ...
Bodhidharma's Disciples And The Transmission Of The Law
For details, see Chwen Tang Luh and Den Ka Roku, by Kei Z...
The Awakening Of The Innermost Wisdom
Having set ourselves free from the misconception of Self, nex...
Enlightenment Implies An Insight Into The Nature Of Self
We cannot pass over, however, this weighty problem without sa...
The Bad Are The Good In The Egg
This is not only the case with a robber or a murderer, but al...
The Honest Poverty Of The Zen Monk And The Samurai
Secondly, the so-called honest poverty is a characteristic of...
The Law Of Balance In Life
It is also the case with human affairs. Social positions hig...
The Irrationality Of The Belief Of Immortality
Occidental minds believe in a mysterious entity under the nam...
The First Step In The Mental Training
Some of the old Zen masters are said to have attained to supr...
The Next Step In The Mental Training
In the next place we have to strive to be the master of our b...
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Life In The Concrete
Life in the concrete, which we are living, greatly differs from life
in the abstract, which exists only in the class-room. It is not
eternal; it is fleeting; it is full of anxieties, pains, struggles,
brutalities, disappointments, and calamities. We love life, however,
-not only for its smoothness, but for its roughness; not only for its
pleasure, but for its pain; not only for its hope, but for its fear;
not only for its flowers, but for its frost and snow. As
Issai (Sato) has aptly put it: "Prosperity is like spring, in
which we have green leaves and flowers wherever we go; while
adversity is like winter, in which we have snow and ice. Spring, of
course, pleases us; winter, too, displeases us not." Adversity is
salt to our lives, as it keeps them from corruption, no matter how
bitter to taste it way be. It is the best stimulus to body and mind,
since it brings forth latent energy that may remain dormant but for
it. Most people hunt after pleasure, look for good luck, hunger
after success, and complain of pain, ill-luck, and failure. It does
not occur to them that 'they who make good luck a god are all unlucky
men,' as George Eliot has wisely observed. Pleasure ceases to be
pleasure when we attain to it; another sort of pleasure displays
itself to tempt us. It is a mirage, it beckons to us to lead us
astray. When an overwhelming misfortune looks us in the face, our
latent power is sure to be aroused to grapple with it. Even delicate
girls exert the power of giants at the time of emergency; even
robbers or murderers are found to be kind and generous when we are
thrown into a common disaster. Troubles and difficulties call forth
our divine force, which lies deeper than the ordinary faculties, and
which we never before dreamed we possessed.
A noted scholar (1772-1859) and author, who belonged to the
Wang School of Confucianism. See Gen-shi-roku.
Next: Difficulties Are No Match For The Optimist
Previous: The Eternal Life As Taught By Professor Munsterberg
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