Or maybe, if you intend to save other beings and he knew you were, he was giving you the chance to form a karmic connection with each, so when you become more advanced, you will be able to locate them again and save them from samsara.
Or maybe, he was teaching you about their minds. You may perhaps have noticed that if your intention is to help the insect, the insect is often calm and lets itself be helped. The natural instinct of insects is to hide or escape. When you focus on them with some compassion, that changes. Insects can be very sensitive to humans. For example, once on a solitary retreat in a high mountain valley where hikers normally didn't come, across from Mt. Shasta, some gnats got caught in my tent, which in the middle of the day was quite hot. Since I didn't think I could get them out of the hot tent physically, I tried directing them out. There was a tiny hole in the top of the tent, just large enough for a gnat to crawl through. So I concentrated on the gnats one at a time. When the gnat moved towards the hole, I generated feeling of that's right inside myself. When the gnat moved away from the hole, I generated feelings of that's wrong inside myself. The gnats quickly caught on and I got them all to the hole, where they crawled out of the tent. Later I learned that I could safely pick up a gnat if I made a little pocket of kleenex in my fingers, and then put the pocket over one of them and gently closed the pocket off. When I opened the pocket, the gnat would be unharmed. In any case, gnats aren't very intelligent, but they can understand simple things. No doubt, they also have the Buddha-nature. Jim --- In [email protected], "Joe" <desert_woodworker@...> wrote: > > Jim, > > Funny, for some reason, or maybe not, at Sheng Yen's center and on long > retreats held at places outside New York City, I was the fellow that Sheng > Yen would ask to take insects outside, even in Winter, if one was discovered > in the Ch'an Hall, the kitchen, or sleeping quarters. > > He'd say: > > "Joseph, take it outside the DOOR." > > (English was a forth or fifth language for him, and he was just learning). > > Spiders, roaches, water-bugs, flies, ants, and hoppers, and crickets. > > Maybe it was training for me in a future life's career as an Entomologist: in > this life, I am an Astronomer. > > Or maybe he knew I would not hurt them, or needed to practice at not hurting > them. > > Anyway, I now do the same at home. Except for favorite spiders in favorite > cobwebs in my wood shop. They keep down the pesky flies, and have to make > some kind of a living, too. > > Best greetings!, > > --Joe > > > "jfnewell7" <jfnewell7@> wrote: > > > > Jim::: I fully agree with your idea of balance. > ------------------------------------ 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/
