Hi Mike That was beautiful. Thank you
Buddha be praised Mel --- On Tue, 8/3/11, mike brown <[email protected]> wrote: I've heard it said that we climb the mountain of enlightenment for ourselves and climb back down for others. I'm still on the way up so I can't speak for the masters. It's a dangerous thing to think that after kensho 'this is it!' (have you heard 'The devil in the hole' koan?). It is it, but it can still all too easily be coloured by our ingrained desires, thoughts and emotions etc. Two things that stick with me in relation to your questions are also quotes by the masters. On what benefit to the world is awakening from the enligtened 'individidual': His thatched cottage gate is closed, and even the wisest know him not. No glimpses of his inner life are to be caught; for he goes on his own way without following the steps of the ancient sages. Carrying a gourd, he goes out into the market, leaning against a staff, he comes home. He is found in company with wine-bibbers and butchers; he and they are all converted into Buddhas. Bare-chested and bare-footed, he comes out into the market-place; Daubed with mud and ashes, how broadly he smiles! There is no need for the miraculous power of the gods, For he touches, and lo! the dead trees are in full bloom. The last of the ox-herding pictures [my italics]. I take this second one for what enlightenment can do for the world: "The moon outside the window is always the same, but it looks more brilliant when the plum flowers are in bloom." Mike ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
