The Silver Bowl
There's a Zen parable that talks about the reflection of the moon in a silver bowl. How do you know where the reflection stops and the bowl begins?
Of course, these guys were all seriously sleep deprived.
My favorite Zen story is this: two monks were walking along when they came to a river crossing, where a beautiful woman was waiting. The water was fast and deep, and she couldn't get across, so the senior monk simply picked her up, carried her across, and went on his way.
After a while, he noticed the junior monk was seriously pissed.
What's the matter?
Junior, clearly a dogmatist, started yelling, how could you defile yourself, how could you touch a woman, etc., etc.
And the senior monk said, Are you still carrying her around? I put her down back by the river.
The mountains tonight are pure silver in the moonlight.
Of course, these guys were all seriously sleep deprived.
My favorite Zen story is this: two monks were walking along when they came to a river crossing, where a beautiful woman was waiting. The water was fast and deep, and she couldn't get across, so the senior monk simply picked her up, carried her across, and went on his way.
After a while, he noticed the junior monk was seriously pissed.
What's the matter?
Junior, clearly a dogmatist, started yelling, how could you defile yourself, how could you touch a woman, etc., etc.
And the senior monk said, Are you still carrying her around? I put her down back by the river.
The mountains tonight are pure silver in the moonlight.
posted by e. Readicker-Henderson at 11:20 PM
1 Comments:
That's a favorite Zen story of mine, too. Makes me wish I'd bought Zen Comics at Kinokuniya those years ago. I remember reading that story while standing around in the English-language section, where I read a lot without buying.
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