Short Story: The Zen master who cried
By emptychair
@innertalks (23740)
Australia
January 27, 2020 5:18pm CST
The newly appointed Zen master, Roshposche Grizaldo, had achieved the rare state of enlightenment, at long last.
(He must of done, he had thought to himself, as only enlightened people are appointed as Zen Masters.)
The trouble was though, that it seemed to estrange him, not only from himself, but also from all other people too, including even from the students assigned to him, in his new appointment, as assistant Zen master, at the old Japanese Zen monastery, where he himself had studied as a student, for such a long time.
"Was he really enlightened then?", he questioned himself.
Poor Roshposche did not know what to do, and he went to his room, and cried.
He had thought that enlightenment would bring him all that was required for him to live a perfect life. He now knew that there must be far more to life than just enlightenment.
He did not know what this was though.
Thirty years of practice, and he was still lost in his mind. He cried some more.
The next day, this Zen master went to his own old master, the honourable master, Dochi Zinochi, and he asked him about this.
Dochi told him this, while lovingly feeding a goose, at the side of the monastery’s pond:
The master said,
“Enlightenment is a coldly state of the mind unless it stays connected to your heart of love as well.”
“There are two sides to mastery, seeing and understanding and being the one in the one, is one side, but the other side is seeing the one in the one is not the one in the one, until you yourself glue it all together for yourself again with your love, not with your understanding, or your enlightenment.”
“Go forth and love all, and you will never feel estranged from anyone again, including from your self.”
“You are enlightened, but allow it, enlightenment, to warm your heart, not distance you from it.”
“Do not ever let love float too far away from your mind, and this includes, not even ever from your enlightened mind.”
Photo Credit: The photos used in this article were all sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
The old Zen master knew that love lived outside of enlightenment.
Enlightenment is of the mind. Love is of the heart.
We should not ever sacrifice love for enlightenment, no matter how refined and perfect how mind might have seemed to have become.
3 people like this
3 responses
@Hannihar (130150)
• Israel
3 Feb 20
@innertalks
It sounds like he got very wise advice that he did not have to cry.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23740)
• Australia
3 Feb 20
Yes, that's true, but we all cry, before we get wise advice, not usually after...lol...
2 people like this
@innertalks (23740)
• Australia
3 Feb 20
@Hannihar That's true too. It is good that he could cry.
It actually showed that he still was in contact with love, for him to be able to cry like that, and that's why the master helped him, and told him about love, and its true place in our lives.
@Hannihar (130150)
• Israel
3 Feb 20
@innertalks
Some are taught not to cry. I am glad he felt he could cry.
2 people like this
@Aquitaine24 (12000)
• San Jose, California
28 Jan 20
Allowing enlightenment to warm your heart is a good idea.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23740)
• Australia
28 Jan 20
Yes, thanks. I cannot see the point of enlightement, if we allow it to colden our hearts. We need to stay heart people too.
1 person likes this
@Aquitaine24 (12000)
• San Jose, California
28 Jan 20
@innertalks Yes, you don't know the exact moment.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23740)
• Australia
28 Jan 20
@Aquitaine24 Yes, there is no point in our waiting for enlightenment to happen, but freezing over our hearts, with our steel-trap overly focussed mind, until it does so.
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (28380)
• Singapore
28 Jan 20
I have seen the plight of a few wealthy who spend all their lives going after material wealth only to realize their own get impatient to lay their hands on their hard-earned possessions. To add insult to injury they are advised to pass on the wealth and retire gracefully!
Even enlightenment can end up as a selfish pursuit unless it is motivated by love. Our pursuit should itself be the reward and that is true passion in action - siva
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23740)
• Australia
28 Jan 20
Yes, most everything, if not motivated by love, tends to become me-directed, or of a selfish nature.
Enlightenment itself is a man-made tool of the mind's that brings clarity because the mind is not clouded by me-first ideas, but reaches out to all, seeing all as a part of itself, and itself as a part of it all.
Once the mind is reconnected to the all, the all envelopes it with itself too, in a way, so that the individual stays alive, but cocooned in the oneness of oneness too, without trying to sit on the mountain of life, as its king, anymore.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23740)
• Australia
29 Jan 20
@Shiva49 Even with that helicopter view, though, if we go onto auto-pilot too often, we could still crash, through some of the fogs of life enveloping us again.
We need to stay aware too.
The great master, Nisargadatta Marahaj, distinguished between awareness and consciousness like this:
"Awareness is primordial; it is the original state, beginningless, endless, uncaused, unsupported, without parts, without change. Consciousness is on contact, a reflection against a surface, a state of duality. There can be no consciousness without awareness, but there can be awareness without
consciousness, as in deep sleep. Awareness is absolute, consciousness is relative to its content; consciousness is always of something. Consciousness is partial and changeful, awareness is total, changeless, calm and silent. And it is the common matrix of every experience."
1 person likes this
@Shiva49 (28380)
• Singapore
29 Jan 20
@innertalks Yes, enlightenment raises our consciousness to give us a helicopter view to perceive the oneness sans man-made borders - siva
1 person likes this
