Zen koan: The unplanted tree is really still always planted.
By emptychair
@innertalks (23739)
Australia
April 4, 2022 10:47pm CST
The newly appointed head monk of the Roshillo monastery, Zen master, Zalzo Zelzozo, wanted to give his students a new koan.
He meditated on it for the next week, and then he gave them his new koan.
"Why is a tree planted, where it is planted, but we can move around, seemingly unplanted, or are we really so planted too?"
The students realised if they agreed that they were planted, the master would try to unplant them, as that's what good koans do.
But, if they said they were unplanted, he would say to them, well why are you not Zen masters yet too.
So, one student gave their answer, which was this.
"A tree is not planted; it is itself, so the question is really why are we not our real selves yet too?"
"And this is because, we still hold false thoughts, beliefs, and feelings."
"Good, very good,"
said the master.
"Be the tree in yourself; be planted in oneness, unplanted."
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
We cannot become unplanted within oneness, from oneness.
We only think that we can live alone.
And yet, when we are fully only just ourselves, we find our own roots within oneness then too.
Any unplantedness is impossible within oneness's plantedness.
We are always planted, and Zen just lets us see that.
3 people like this
2 responses
@innertalks (23739)
• Australia
5 Apr 22
That's true.
I am like that myself, and l have never been sure about what l want, or want to do in my life.
The thing is though, l am planted into life, whether l know it, or not, and sometimes like the tree, we have to accept our mission, purpose, and planting, to be, and to own, our real selves.
@Shiva49 (28380)
• Singapore
5 Apr 22
Yes, we are rooted in the oneness of creation though we can move around in circles and expand them too.
Now Elon Musk wants us to colonize Mars by 2025. But we cannot rid ourselves of oneness even then.
We are social beings and separateness is an illusion and soon brought back to the reality of the oneness of creation.
How will the trees feel as we think they are shackled?
Like the tree being comfortable within itself, we need to be ourselves.
Then lots of problems of this world will dissipate without the make-believe we force ourselves into.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23739)
• Australia
5 Apr 22
Thanks, siva.
If we think about it, we all already have some deep roots that are hard to change.
The country where we are born into, our parents who we are born too, our beginning gender status.
These physical aspects can't usually easily be changed, although we can disown them, and gender status is less rigid now too.
We also have roots, via our hearts and souls, into God, and into his oneness too, which can never be severed, although our mind can virtually cut off our connection to these roots too, with its own thoughts, beliefs, and ways.
Yes, we need to accept, and be our real selves, the one that God has created us to be.
@innertalks (23739)
• Australia
6 Apr 22
@Shiva49 I am not sure that we should be thinking about that legacy too much while we are still living.
The tennis player, Novak Djokovic, wasn't looking to only just leave a legacy then, but seemed to stick more to his own ideas of how he should be living his life.
He sacrificed a lot for those ideas, but the rest of us, do not really know if he is deluded, in his stubbornness, or to be admired for his sticking to his beliefs.
I am not sure if we should always strive to be our self then, if that self, has just been constructed by us in our minds, from wrong beliefs, and stuck-to delusions.
We need to separate the chaff from the wheat, and to really know who our real self is to leave a real legacy, not just a war-chest of old medals.
"No legacy is so rich as honesty."
said the bard, William Shakespeare.
If we are not honest in our being of our real, real self, all legacies are not worth the life lost that has built them.
@Shiva49 (28380)
• Singapore
7 Apr 22
@innertalks Yes but honesty is one of the best legacies that we can be proud of.
The joker is sticking to his principles and ready to pay the price of sacrificing his best years thereby forgoing more medals and money.
My life was more attuned to living by my conscience and doing what I felt was right. A life to live to benefit others and indirectly that benefits me too meaning I lived a life that was honorable (as per my view).
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