Meditation Point #78
A Zen ThingOne day, while addressing a crowd, the popular Zen master Bankei was being heckled by a Nichiren Buddhist priest. The priest was yelling out, “I don’t understand a single word you’re saying!”
Bankei called out and said, “Come closer and I’ll explain it.”
The priest walked closer in the midst of the crowd. Bankei said, “No, come closer.”
The priest edged closer, and Bankei said, “No, closer still,” until finally the priest was right next to Bankei. And Bankei said: “Ah, look! How well you understand me!”
This Zen story is a good example of perspective reasoning. To often we judge things we are asked to do or to understand yet we refuse to try. Instead we play the three monkey’s and hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. In this state our horizons can never expand, our experiences never enrich, our ethos never evolve. This is a sad state because if we simply unblock our eyes and ears we can begin to learn to test our beliefs and knowledge. For in the testing of the knowledge is growth for this is the path to truth. Like the priest we must sometimes be distracted and move from our vantage point were we defensively judge to preserve our current stance.
When we train we often encounter difficulties or tasks that seem foreign or “wrong”. But with experience we discover that our approach was wrong and it was our perspective that kept us from seeing this. When you have difficulty in your training clear your mind, breath deeply and experience your training without prejudice and opinion. Only then can you let your body find a new way. Like I tell my students, Stop Thinking! and Do!!
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