The master, the gardener, and the guest

The longing of the mind is to be extraordinary. The ego thirsts and hungers for the recognition that you are somebody. Somebody achieves that dream through wealth, somebody else achieves that dream through power, politics; somebody else can achieve that dream through miracles, jugglery, but the dream remains the same: "I cannot tolerate being nobody."

And this is a miracle-- when you accept your nobodiness, when you are just as ordinary as anybody else, when you don't ask for any recognition, when you can exist as if you are not existing. To be absent is the miracle.

This story is beautiful, one of the most beautiful Zen anecdotes, and Bankei is one of the superb Masters. But Bankei was an ordinary man.

Once it happened that Bankei was working in his garden. A seeker came, a man in search of a Master, and he asked Bankei, "Gardener, where is the Master?"

Bankei laughed and said, "Wait. Go in through that door, and inside you will find the Master."

So the man went round and came inside. He saw Bankei sitting on a throne, the same man who was the gardener outside. The seeker said, "Are you kidding? Get down from this throne. This is sacrilegious, you don't pay any respect to the Master."

Bankei got down, sat on the ground, and said, "Now then, it is difficult. Now you will not find the Master here ... because I am the Master."

It was difficult for that man to see that a great Master could work in the garden, could be just ordinary. He left. He couldn't believe that this man was the Master; he missed.

Everybody is afraid of being nobody. Only very rare and extraordinary people are not afraid of being nobody --a Gautam Buddha, a Bankei. A nobody is not an ordinary phenomenon; it is one of the greatest experiences in life--that you are, and still you are not. That you are just pure existence with no name, with no address, with no boundaries... neither a sinner nor a saint, neither inferior nor superior, just a silence.

People are afraid because their whole personality will be gone; their name, their fame, their respectability, all will be gone; hence, the fear. But death is going to take them away from you anyway. Those who are wise allow these things to drop by themselves. Then nothing is left for death to take away. Then all fear disappears, because death cannot come to you; you don't have anything for death. Death cannot kill a nobody.

Once you feel your nobodiness you have become immortal. The experience of nobodiness is exactly the meaning of nirvana, of nothingness, of absolute undisturbed silence, with no ego, with no personality, with no hypocrisy--just this silence... and these insects singing in the night.

You are here in a way, and still you are not.

You are here because of the old association with the body, but look within and you are not. And this insight, where there is pure silence and pure isness, is your reality, which death cannot destroy. This is your eternity, this is your immortality.

There is nothing to fear. There is nothing to lose. And if you think anything is lost--your name, your respectability, your fame--they are worthless. They are playthings for children, not for mature people. It is time for you to be mature, it is time for you to be ripe, time for you just to be.

Your somebodiness is so small. The more you are somebody, the smaller you are; the more you are nobody, the bigger. Be absolutely nobody, and you are one with the existence itself.


********
Osho


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with respect to the one who has inspired me today

Yes, this is the dilemma.

As you see, the beetle does not pinch my arm with no reaction from me. I am surprised by it. Its pinch reverberates in my mind and heart, and my reaction is visceral. That is the reaction of the body, accompanied by stirrings of anger.

A reaction: as is your feeling that a good pounding might release the adrenaline which being confronted by aggressors brings into your physical system, along with any other mind-body reverberations of your own.

So, because we are "impaired" by the mind-body system, the "other" is always our teacher. There is no reaction in our selves which occurs alone, mentally or physically or emotionally. This is true for all of us.

However, think about this aggressive man on the street. How can that man be my teacher?

When we begin to ask these questions the story is much easier to understand.

For me, there are many levels to understanding. I want to understand thoroughly, completely.

I see the beetle as my teacher: the gardener and the master. In truth, a beetle moves through the earth, tunneling and creating his own wake. By attacking me, the beetle gave me a path to greater understanding. By refusing to see the "master" in the beetle I would be missing an important layer of meaning.

You see, I want to know the deepest layer of peace. The layer of peace which moves all beings into other worlds. That is where I want to be, 24/7.

So, it is helpful to look at who I see, and also who I see as the master, the gardener and the seeker.

They are all me, and they are all you, and they are all the people we meet. This brings me happiness.

Remember, when I bow to the beetle, we are now on the "same level" - together. I am not holding myself above him. He is not holding himself above me. We are accepting each other for who we are. It is a moment worth sharing.

love, blink

Thank you, Spooky. If so, I am pleased.

When one can appreciate a bug, an insect, very little seems troublesome anymore.

I continue to meet these creatures. Last night, a long, thin, black flying insect appeared in the kitchen. I assisted it out the door. This morning, another type of beetle, on the steps to my workplace, unafraid, so I stepped past it.

But, I wonder, how would I react to a swarm of these creatures?

So far, they appear one by one.

Is it necessary to communicate to each one in the swarm, one by one? Is that possible?

What abilities are required for a person to recognize and find acceptance with each individual in a "swarm" simultaneously?

There must be a simple answer, and it must have to do with the ability to communicate without words, without gestures, without the slightest possibility of misunderstanding.

How powerful is Love? Have we ever really searched for that answer?

Blink wrote:
"What abilities are required for a person to recognize and find acceptance with each individual in a "swarm" simultaneously?"

I can't imagine that one can be aware of a communication with that many individuals at the same time. So, if it's possible, another "instance" of us would do it, when we have the intent to do so. Gestures might not be working as communication itself, but it could help to express and focus the intent.

Similarly, sometimes in meditation I feel like love is going through me and encompasses the whole world. The sceptic within me says: "How can you state this love encompasses the whole world while you aren't aware of all the single individuals within the whole?" Maybe it is allright to simply change viewpoints, one time you see the whole, another time an individual, another time individual parts of the individual. Our human multitasking ability is limited. In a holistic way, maybe communication to an individual is communication with the whole, too?

Spooky

Perfect love can be duplicated? The initial "gesture" is the intention?

Or, perfect love is expansive, can "wrap" around the subject, through the subject, encompassing the subject. Or, the subject draws the perfect love into it.

Perhaps this perfect love is immensely powerful....tremendously powerful.

Would it take only one, or many, of us to project this perfect love?

When love meets its "destination" how will we know? Will we see with the same kind of eyes? Does perfect love change us?

This insect, will it ever know perfect love? Will we ever know perfect love?

Who encourages us to love?

Why do we want to love?



spooky2 wrote on Jul 24^th, 2008 at 8:27pm: