How do people die???

[Koushu]

Found this in my morning reading of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, by Nyogen Senzaki.

Ikkyu, the Zen Master, was clever even as a boy. His teacher had a precious teacup, a rare antique. Ikkyu happened to break this cup and was greatly perplexed. Hearing the footsteps of his teacher, he held the pieces of the cup behind him. When the master appeared, Ikkyu asked: "Why do people have to die?"
"This is natural," explained the older man. "Everything has to die and has just so long to live."
Ikkyu, producing the shattered cup, added: "It was time for your cup to die."

One of my favorite Zen stories, as it shows the impermanence of things, beings, emotions and thoughts. The cup can come to mean any of those things, through our practice of zazen can we come to this realization of impermanence.

Gassho
拡手

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Tapatalk

[Joyo]

Thank you, Koushu, for sharing this teaching.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Jundo]

That doesn't mean that Ikkyu did not have to pay for his misdeed!

Thank you for the story.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Jakuden]

Thank you Koushu! My younger daughter is a lot like Ikkyu... she can talk her way out of anything.
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mp]

Thank you Koushu ... and yet, even though we die, there is no point in rushing it - we should do our best to take care as best we can. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Koushu]

Agreed Jundo. But I think the point of the matter is everything has its time, to this satori will appear when the moment is fruitful within us, so will our practice, fuze and everything thing has its natural time of fruition. In the meantime we just sit and observe without observing, eat when we are eating, zazen when we are zazening. Ikkyu was experiencing a now, as was his master and the teacup.

Gassho
拡手
Koushu

Satoday and going to sit again.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Tapatalk

[Koushu]

Very true, Shingen, very true. Are time is now, not tomorrow, not yesterday, not 30 seconds from now or before, but now. Everything will be fulfilled at the right moment.

Gassho
拡手
Koushu

Satoday now returning to sitting.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Tapatalk

[Jundo]

Agreed Jundo. But I think the point of the matter is everything has its time, to this satori will appear when the moment is fruitful within us, so will our practice, fuze and everything thing has its natural time of fruition. In the meantime we just sit and observe without observing, eat when we are eating, zazen when we are zazening. Ikkyu was experiencing a now, as was his master and the teacup.

Gassho
拡手
Koushu

Satoday and going to sit again.

Yes, all that.

Plus maybe the little smartmouth did not want to get his butt kicked.

For those who do not know, Ikkyu is one of the most widely known and popular Zen figures in Japan, going even so far as to become a popular children's cartoon character ... also a little skamp. He's the one at the end falling asleep during Zazen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfwtTRj8mqk

The real Ikkyu was also a controversial (yet much appreciated, especially by more liberal folks) figure in Zen, because he mixed serious and diligent Zen training and teaching with visiting bars and brothels (the latter, an accepted social practice in the day, although not for priests). He did not hide it, and wrote poems about it (WARNING: some adult content here ) ...

A Man's Root

Eight inches strong, it is my favorite thing;
If I'm alone at night, I embrace it fully—
A beautiful woman hasn't touched it for ages.
Within my fundoshi [underwear] there is an entire universe!

–

A Woman's Sex

It has the original mouth but remains wordless;
It is surrounded by a magnificent mound of hair.
Sentient beings can get completely lost in it
But it is also the birthplace of all the Buddhas of the ten thousand worlds.

–

Rinzai's disciples never got the Zen message,
But I, the Blind Donkey, know the truth:
Love play can make you immortal.
The autumn breeze of a single night of love is better than a hundred thousand years of
sterile sitting meditation. . .

–

Stilted koans and convoluted answers are all monks have,
Pandering endlessly to officials and rich patrons.
Good friends of the Dharma, so proud, let me tell you,
A brothel girl in gold brocade is worth more than any of you.

–

Emerging from the world's grime, a puritan saint is still nowhere near a Buddha.
Enter a brothel once and Great Wisdom will explode upon you.
Manjushri should have let Ananda enjoy himself in the whorehouse –
Now he will never know the joys of elegant love play.

–

A sex-loving monk, you object!
Hot-blooded and passionate, totally aroused.
Remember, though, that lust can consume all passion,
Transmuting base metal into pure gold.

–

The lotus flower
Is unstained by mud;
This single dewdrop,
Just as it is,
Manifests the real body of truth.

–

Follow the rule of celibacy blindly and you are no more than an ass;
Break it and you are only human.
The spirit of Zen is manifest in ways countless as the sands of the Ganges.
Every newborn is a fruit of the conjugal bond.
For how many aeons have secret blossoms been budding and fading?

–

With a young beauty, sporting in deep love play;
We sit in the pavilion, a pleasure girl and this Zen monk.
Enraptured by hugs and kisses,
I certainly don't feel as if I am burning in hell.

http://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/IkkyuStevens.html

Now, all that being said, he was also one of the most serious, diligent Zen Masters of his age ... whatever he did in his spare time. A complicated figure. I guess one must pay the price of one's misdeeds.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Jakuden]

Oh my! [emoji23]
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Koushu]

It is funny how some of the most serious and probably most accomplished masters were controversial or just rubbed the establishment the wrong way. But in the end what do we gain? I find Ikkyu very interesting in how he portrays the teachings as well as the natural. Yet in an abrasive way he connects the illusions, delusions and the nature of the way. In that even with good intentions we, if not attentive can make our own practice a cesspool of delusion and grandeur.

Thank you Jundo for sharing Ikkyu's interesting writings.

Gassho
拡手
Koushu

Satoday

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Tapatalk

[Diarmuid1]

You asked. The internet answered.

[Seishin]

Koushu

Thanks for sharing that simple wonderful lesson. I've just found a PDF copy and downloaded it I was so intrigue with the book. From Jundo's comments Ikkyu sound quite a character.......interesting poetry

[Jishin]

Hi,

You go to sleep on 27,375 times in a lifetime and you wake up 27,375 times. On the 27,376 day you don't wake up. That's how people die. No big deal. Lots of practice. 🤤

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Hoko]

I love what I've read from Ikkyu.

Here's one of my favorites. It sounds cheeky but there's also some depth if you look for it:

"Fucking, flattery, success, money,
I just sit back and suck my thumb."

Gassho,
Hōkō
#SatToday

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[Diarmuid1]

I love what I've read from Ikkyu.

Here's one of my favorites. It sounds cheeky but there's also some depth if you look for it:

"Fucking, flattery, success, money,
I just sit back and suck my thumb."

Gassho,
Hōkō
#SatToday

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

I like to imagine the less prurient reading his name as Icky! Ooo!