Zen Story: The Zen master’s dog, Zach.
@innertalks (21026)
Australia
July 13, 2020 8:53pm CST
“I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.”
Abraham Lincoln, (1809 to 1865), a former president of the United States, said this.
There was once a Zen master, who was given a dog by one of his neighbours, who was leaving town, and who said that he could not take it with him.
The dog became like his new master, and it developed a similar personality too.
It lived a long life in the master’s monastery with him there.
When he walked, it walked around behind him. When he ate, it ate with him too.
When he meditated, so did his dog.
When he gave a lecture to his students, the dog, Zach, sat in the front row, taking the lecture all in too.
Dohen Zepocleh used to use this variation of a well-known koan, with his students, after he acquired his dog.
A monk asked Zhaozhou Congshen, a renowned Zen master:
"Has a dog got Buddha-nature, or not?"
Zhaozhou replied, “Mu”.
But, my reply to you is this one:
"Mu, goes the cow, but ask, Zach, over there, only he knows, the real answer to your question!".
Author’s observation:
Enlightenment does not come little by little.
It is there right now, behind the “Mu”.
How is enlightenment there right now?
Enlightenment lives in the darkness of your soul, mind, and heart, until all three are filled with light, or are in a state of love, then it shines forth from its former shadow self to be its real self in you then too.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
The dog, Zach, was still a puppy when the Zen master first acquired him.
4 people like this
6 responses
@innertalks (21026)
• Australia
15 Jul 20
Yes, very smart, they seem to just know stuff, at a higher level than we do too.
This dog, Zach, was a Zen master, in his own right!
1 person likes this
@innertalks (21026)
• Australia
15 Jul 20
@Shiva49 And they can help us to connect as they connect too.
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (26202)
• Singapore
15 Jul 20
@innertalks Maybe, they can connect with our creator better than us - siva
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (73444)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
14 Jul 20
I think dogs pick up on things quite well.
2 people like this
@innertalks (21026)
• Australia
14 Jul 20
Yes, they know far more than what their bark reveals.
It's a pity, that we cannot use more than one photo here, as I have this picture of Zack, when he was old too, that I wanted to use here too.
(Zach, in his old age).
@RasmaSandra (73444)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
14 Jul 20
@innertalks he is a handsome dog
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (26202)
• Singapore
14 Jul 20
I think other species are like us too - not all are similarly enlightened.
Domesticated animals like dogs, cats and others have their own levels and some are able to connect with us more on an emotional level.
They tend to love more unconditionally than we do. Maybe, they retain a purer heart than us with our societal baggage that we lug around.
Zach is able to connect and adjust easily to a human environment than even some of us with animal instincts! siva
1 person likes this
@innertalks (21026)
• Australia
15 Jul 20
Thanks, siva. You said it so well there. I agree about the purer heart too.
"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole."
Roger Caras (photographer and writer)
"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring — it was peace."
Milan Kundera (Author, The Unbearable Lightness of Being).
These authors agree with you too, it seems.
Dogs allow our own animal instincts to disappear in their love.
@innertalks (21026)
• Australia
15 Jul 20
@Shiva49 Yes, there is more to God's world than what immediately meets the eye. We need to use our inner eyes to see with too.
Inner eyes matched with outer eyes sees the wisdom behind the scenes, and grasps the understanding needed to understand the hidden truths embedded into everything then too.
1 person likes this
@Shiva49 (26202)
• Singapore
15 Jul 20
@innertalks Yes Steve, we can learn from everything in creation.
Why be closeted only with the human species when it comes to wisdom?
Other species coexist much better than us to start with.
We see enemies everywhere and are afraid of our own shadows even!
And some are hoarders much more than whatever they need, what for? siva
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (129482)
• Israel
31 Jul 20
By Steve Marshall
@innertalks
Steve, thank you for sharing that with us. Zach is a very interesting dog. I like he is adorable in the picture the way he is sitting in his bowl. He wants to know things.
@misunderstood_zombie (8142)
• United States
15 Jul 20
Zach was cute from puppy to old age.
2 people like this
@innertalks (21026)
• Australia
15 Jul 20
Yes, l thought so too.
He has lovely eyes, with an expressive thoughtfully pondering face.
2 people like this
@innertalks (21026)
• Australia
14 Jul 20
Yes, l liked it too. He has his back feet in his bowl, cute, very much so.
