Sunday, July 1, 2012
Before Abraham was I am (John 8:58)
My favorite Zen riddle is "who were you before you were born?" This question stumped a star student who thought he knew everything. He went and faced the wall of a cave for a number of years to find the answer. When he returned to give the answer to his teacher, he asked why the teacher had not just given him the answer. "You would have hated me if I did," the teacher answered.
Nothing is permanent. And everything is eternal. That to me is what the mystic John is saying.
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Reflections on Talks on Buddha's Lists
During a recent Appamada Intensive our students gave talks on Buddha's lists. Here are my reflections on their talks.
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Rhinoceros Fan (an infamous koan) One day Yanguan called to his attendant, "Bring me the rhinoceros fan." The attendant said, ...
2 comments:
How does that figure into one of my retorts,"500 years from now, who will know?"
I like the smile on the figure. Seems "she" received the answer to the riddle.
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