A man left his cat with his brother while he went on vacation for a week. When he came back, he called his brother to see when he could pick the cat up. The brother hesitated, then said, "I'm so sorry, but while you were away, the cat died." The ma... Read more of Cat on the roof at Free Jokes.ca

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Buddhism

Pessimistic View Of The Ancient Hindus
In addition to this, the new theory of matter has entirely ov...

The Parable Of The Monk And The Stupid Woman
The confused or unenlightened may be compared with a monk and...

Idealistic Scepticism Concerning Religion And Morality
Similarly, it is the case with religion and morality. If we ...

The Introduction Of The So-to School Of Zen
This school was started by Tsing-Yuen (Sei-gen), an emine...

Enlightenment Implies An Insight Into The Nature Of Self
We cannot pass over, however, this weighty problem without sa...

The Great Person And Small Person
For these reasons Zen proposes to call man Buddha-natured or ...

Flight Of The Sixth Patriarch
On the following morning the news of what had happened during...

The Disciples Under The Sixth Patriarch
Some time after this the Sixth Patriarch settled himself down...

Change As Seen By Zen
Zen, like Hinayanism, does not deny the doctrine of Transienc...

The Betterment Of Life
Again, people nowadays seem to feel keenly the wound of the ...

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

Buddha Is Unnamable
Give a definite name to Deity, He would be no more than what ...

Life Consists In Conflict
Life consists in conflict. So long as man remains a social a...

Bodhidharma And His Successor The Second Patriarch
China was not, however, an uncultivated land for the seed of ...

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

The Eternal Life As Taught By Professor Munsterberg
Some philosophical pessimists undervalue life simply because ...

The Breathing Exercise Of The Yogi
Breathing exercise is one of the practices of Yoga, and somew...

Bodhidharma's Disciples And The Transmission Of The Law
For details, see Chwen Tang Luh and Den Ka Roku, by Kei Z...

Zen And Supernatural Power
Yoga claims that various supernatural powers can be acquired ...

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

The Bad Are The Good In The Egg

This is not only the case with a robber or a murderer, but also with
ordinary people. There are many who are honest and good in their
homesteads, but turn out to be base and dishonest folk outside them.
Similarly, there are those who, having an enthusiastic love of their
local district, act unlawfully against the interests of other
districts. They are upright and honourable gentlemen within the
boundary of their own district, but a gang of rascals without it. So
also there are many who are Washingtons and William Tells in their
own, but at the same time pirates and cannibals in the other
countries. Again, there are not a few persons who, having racial
prejudices, would not allow the rays of their Buddha-nature to pass
through a coloured skin. There are civilized persons who are humane
enough to love and esteem any human being as their brother, but so
unfeeling that they think lower creatures as their proper food. The
highly enlightened person, however, cannot but sympathize with human
beings and lower creatures as well, as Shakya Muni felt all sentient
beings to be his children.

These people are exactly the same in their Buddha-nature, but a wide
difference obtains among them in the extent of their expressing that
nature in deeds. If thieves and murderers be called bad-natured,
reformers and revolutionists should be called so. If, on the other
hand, patriotism and loyalty be said to be good, treason and
insurrection should likewise be so. Therefore it is evident that a
so-called good person is none but one who acts to promote wider
interests of life, and a so-called bad person is none but one who
acts to advance narrower ones. In other words, the bad are the good
in the egg, so to speak, and the good are the bad on the wing. As
the bird in the egg is one and the same as the bird on the wing, so
the good in the egg is entirely of the same nature as the bad on the
wing. To show that human nature transcends the duality of good and
evil, the author of Avatamsaka-sutra declares that 'all beings are
endowed with the wisdom and virtue of Tathagata.' Kwei Fung (Kei-ho)
also says: "All sentient beings have the Real Spirit of Original
Enlightenment (within themselves). It is unchanging and pure. It is
eternally bright and clear, and conscious. It is also named
Buddha-nature, or Tathagata-garbha."

Next: The Great Person And Small Person
Previous: Wang Yang Ming O-yo-mei And A Thief

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