Buddhism Missionary Activity Of The Sixth Patriarch
As we have seen above, the Sixth Patriarch was a great genius...
Origin Of Zen In India
To-day Zen as a living faith can be found in its pure form on...
The Manliness Of The Zen Monk And Of The Samurai
Thirdly, both the Zen monk and the Samurai were distinguished...
Flight Of The Sixth Patriarch
On the following morning the news of what had happened during...
The Examination Of The Notion Of Self
The belief in immortality is based on the strong instinct of
...
Change As Seen By Zen
Zen, like Hinayanism, does not deny the doctrine of Transienc...
The Progress And Hope Of Life
How many myriads of years have passed since the germs of life...
Let Go Of Your Idle Thoughts
A famous Zenist, Mu-go-koku-shi, is said to have replied ...
The Parable Of A Drunkard
Now the question arises, If all human beings are endowed with...
The Characteristics Of Do-gen The Founder Of The Japanese So To Sect
In the meantime seekers after a new truth gradually began to ...
Introduction Of Zen Into China By Bodhidharma
An epoch-making event took place in the Buddhist history of C...
The Breathing Exercise Of The Yogi
Breathing exercise is one of the practices of Yoga, and somew...
Real Self
If there be no individual soul either in mind or body, where ...
Enlightenment Is Beyond Description And Analysis
In the foregoing chapters we have had several occasions to re...
Great Men And Nature
All great men, whether they be poets or scientists or religio...
Idealistic Scepticism Concerning Religion And Morality
Similarly, it is the case with religion and morality. If we ...
Nature Favours Nothing In Particular
There is another point of view of life, which gave the presen...
The Second And The Third Patriarchs
After the death of the First Patriarch, in A.D. 528, Hwui Ko ...
There Is No Mortal Who Is Purely Moral
By nature man should be either good or bad; or he should be g...
The First Step In The Mental Training
Some of the old Zen masters are said to have attained to supr...
|
The First Step In The Mental Training
Some of the old Zen masters are said to have attained to supreme
Enlightenment after the practice of Meditation for one week, some for
one day, some for a score of years, and some for a few months. The
practice of Meditation, however, is not simply a means for
Enlightenment, as is usually supposed, but also it is the enjoyment
of Nirvana, or the beatitude of Zen. It is a matter, of course, that
we have fully to understand the doctrine of Zen, and that we have to
go through the mental training peculiar to Zen in order to be
Enlightened.
The first step in the mental training is to become the master of
external things. He who is addicted to worldly pleasures, however
learned or ignorant he may be, however high or low his social
position may be, is a servant to mere things. He cannot adapt the
external world to his own end, but he adapts himself to it. He is
constantly employed, ordered, driven by sensual objects. Instead of
taking possession of wealth, he is possessed by wealth. Instead of
drinking liquors, he is swallowed up by his liquors. Balls and music
bid him to run mad. Games and shows order him not to stay at home.
Houses, furniture, pictures, watches, chains, hats, bonnets, rings,
bracelets, shoes--in short, everything has a word to command him.
How can such a person be the master of things? To Ju (Na-kae) says:
"There is a great jail, not a jail for criminals, that contains the
world in it. Fame, gain, pride, and bigotry form its four walls.
Those who are confined in it fall a prey to sorrow and sigh for ever."
To be the ruler of things we have first to shut up all our senses,
and turn the currents of thoughts inward, and see ourselves as the
centre of the world, and meditate that we are the beings of highest
intelligence; that Buddha never puts us at the mercy of natural
forces; that the earth is in our possession; that everything on earth
is to be made use of for our noble ends; that fire, water, air,
grass, trees, rivers, hills, thunder, cloud, stars, the moon, the
sun, are at our command; that we are the law-givers of the natural
phenomena; that we are the makers of the phenomenal world; that it is
we that appoint a mission through life, and determine the fate of man.
Next: The Next Step In The Mental Training
Previous: The Method Of Instruction Adopted By Zen Masters
Viewed 138
|
|
