Hard Work

The great Zen Master Dao-an [1312-1385] sat alone in a quiet room for twelve years, exerting his spirit to the utmost in meditation: only then did he attain spiritual awakening.

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A great deal of hard work and dedication is needed in the path of Zen. Work hard on meditation. Merely reading these stories will not help!

-- The Hearty Laugh --

The great Zen Master Weiyan of Yaoshan, like many well-known Zen Masters, came to be identified by his place of residence, and so he was called Yaoshan. One evening, Yaoshan went for a walk in the hills. Suddenly, the clouds and fog parted, and the moon could be seen shining brightly in the sky. On seeing this, Yaoshan let out a hearty laugh. It was so loud that it could be heard for miles in all directions. ----!!!!---- You don't value what you have got. If people could see the moon once in 100 years, then there would have been so much crowd every 100 years just to watch the moon. But since it is available every day, you don't value it. This is why there is so much misery in your life. You are not aware enough. You are not meditative enough. If you start appreciating what you have, there can be happiness in your life too!

"Drink tea slowly and reverently."

~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~

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Enjoying the small things of life with gratitude and awareness is Zen!
But your awareness or meditation is against society. Society doesn’t worry about your awareness. Society wants you to remain mechanical. Did you see? If you do something every day, it becomes mechanical. You do not need to remain aware while doing that. The more mechanical you are, the more effective and productive you are. Society wants you to remain mechanical. It is in the benefit of the society. Your awareness has no use to the society. In fact aware people question everything which at times look anarchic. Hence society is often against aware people like Socrates, Jesus and Buddha. Let them be, you just enjoy your tea!

-- The Words --

The Prime Minister invited the Master Huang-po to the city and presented his own written interpretation of Zen to him. The Master took it and put it on the table. He did not read it. After a short silence, he asked the Prime Minister, "Do you understand?"

The minister: "I do not understand."

The Master: "It would be better if you could understand immediately through inner experience. If it is expressed in words, it won't be our teaching."

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The Buddha didn't read a single post on this page, yet he got enlightened. We have read so much about Zen, yet we are not! If you understand that all the posts here are nonsense and only your meditation is what matters, then you are a true student of Zen!

“When you give suggestion, you become a Guru, you enjoy becoming superior to the poor chap. This makes other feel inferior. And it is against one’s ego to feel inferior to someone. This is why a meditator gives suggestion only when it is utmost necessary or the other person specifically seeks his suggestion.” 

~ Zensational Stories: Volume 1 ~
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-- Confusion --

As the monks Jiashan and Dingshan were travelling together they had a discussion.
Dingshan said, "When there is no Buddha within life and death, then there is no life and death."
Jiashan said, "When Buddha is within life and death, there is no confusion about life and death."
The two monks couldn't reach any agreement, so they climbed the mountain to see Zen master Damei Fachang (who used to live on Mount Da Mei).
Jiashan raised their question with Damei and asked, "We'd like to know which viewpoint is most intimate?"
Damei said, "Go now. Come back tomorrow."
The next day Jiashan again came to Damei and raised the question of the previous day.
Damei said, "The one who's intimate doesn't ask. The one asks isn't intimate."
Years later, when Jiashan was abbot, he said, "At that time I lost my eye."

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Philosophers always get stuck in words. Life is more than philosophies. It accommodates all the contradictions in itself. Understand this! In love, to be defeated by your beloved is the ultimate victory.
Few months ago, I went to meet a friend. He asked me to accompany him and his 6 years' son to a park nearby. The child asked me and his father to run a race. I said, "I have stopped long ago. You guys carry on!" They started running the race in the park. But willingly the father got defeated in the race. Which father won’t like to get defeated by his child? The son became so happy that he started shouting,"I am the winner! I am the winner!" And not surprisingly, even the father was happy. In love, defeat becomes victory!!
But if you are a Ph.D. in philosophy, then you will say, “Be clear! How defeat can be victory? Either say defeat or say victory.” Scholars are stupid. They continuously keep missing the life!
Don’t get entangled in philosophies. Don’t get entangled in words. Go deep in meditative silence.
Just meditate!

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-- The Enlightened --

Once there was a well known philosopher and scholar who devoted himself to the study of Zen for many years. On the day that he finally attained enlightenment, he took all of his books out into the yard, and burned them all!

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Truth cannot be found in scriptures. Scriptures contain only words. Truth is found in deep silence and meditation. Truth has to be found within oneself!
Down the ages religions have been deceiving the humanity by saying them that only their religion's book is the real scripture and the book of God. No book is book of God! All books are written by human beings. Read the books. It's perfectly OK to read the books no matter which religion it belongs to. But don't rely upon them. Rely upon your own meditation!

-- The Buddha Demon --

"If you seek the Buddha, you will be caught by the Buddha Demon; if you seek the patriarchs, you will be bound by the patriarch-Demon.
Whatever you are seeking, all becomes suffering."

~ Zen Master Rinzai ~

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These Zen Masters are wonderful! Such type of fun is possible only in a Zen environment. If you go to a Christian society and there you say 'Jesus Demon', or if you go to an Islam society and there you say 'Mohammad Demon', then your life is in danger!
Zen is only one which has made humor and iconoclasm religious!
Keep smiling and of course continue with the meditation by being a witness and not a seeker. All seeking becomes suffering. Don't seek. Just be a witness!