Talks on Zen, Originally tape title “Path of Paradox”.
Talks given from 21/06/77 am to 30/06/77 am English Discourse series
1 Hey! Wait a Minute2 Selling Water by the River3 And the Sky Abides4 Slipping Lazily into Divinity5 The White Flame of Life6 The Door to the Wild7 An Explosion of Insight8 There is No Back of this Book9 Scratching the Shoe10 The Bridge but not the Water Flows
< Previous | Contents | Next > CHAPTER 1 Hey! Wait a Minute 21 June 1977 am in Buddha Hall ONE EVENING AS SHICHIRI KOJUN WAS RECITING SUTRAS A THIEF WITH A SHARP SWORD ENTERED, DEMANDING EITHER HIS MONEY OR HIS LIFE. SHICHIRI TOLD HIM: ‘DO NOT DISTURB ME. YOU CAN FIND THE MONEY IN THAT DRAWER.’ THEN HE RESUMED HIS RECITATION. A LITTLE WHILE AFTERWARDS HE STOPPED AND CALLED: ‘DON’T TAKE IT ALL....
< Previous | Contents CHAPTER 10 The Bridge but not the Water Flows 30 June 1977 am in Buddha Hall Question 1 UNTIL THE JEWS AND ARABS AND OTHER TRIBES BROUGHT THEIR RACIALLY EXCLUSIVE AND JEALOUS GOD TO THE WEST, TOAMY, BACCHUS, MITHROS AND APOLLO WERE THE GODS THAT MAN WORSHIPPED. DIANA HAD HER BOW AND ARROW, THOR WAS IN THE NORTH, THE MOTHER GODDESS WAS WORSHIPPED IN THE WEST. AND THEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION BECAME THE RELIGION OF THE WEST....
< Previous | Contents | Next > CHAPTER 2 Selling Water by the River 22 June 1977 am in Buddha Hall Question 1 PEACE OF MIND CAN BE GAINED BY WITHDRAWAL FROM THE WORLD, BY STILLING THE VORTICES OF THE MIND. BUT HOW MUCH INNER PEACE IS APPROPRIATE IN A WORLD THAT CONTAINS ATTICA, VIETNAM, JOHANNESBURG, BIAFRA, PAKISTAN AND SUB-SAHARA AFRICA? The world contains Vietnam, Attica, and things like that, because the peace of mind is missing....
< Previous | Contents | Next > CHAPTER 3 And the Sky Abides 23 June 1977 am in Buddha Hall WHEN BANKEI HELD HIS SECLUSION-WEEKS OF MEDITATION, PUPILS FROM MANY PARTS OF JAPAN CAME TO ATTEND. DURING ONE OF THESE GATHERINGS A PUPIL WAS CAUGHT STEALING. THE MATTER WAS REPORTED TO BANKEI WITH THE REQUEST THAT THE CULPRIT BE EXPELLED. BANKEI IGNORED THE CASE. LATER THE PUPIL WAS CAUGHT IN A SIMILAR ACT, AND AGAIN BANKEI DISREGARDED THE MATTER....
< Previous | Contents | Next > CHAPTER 4 Slipping Lazily into Divinity 24 June 1977 am in Buddha Hall Question 1 YOU OFTEN SPEAK ABOUT THE REAL, THE AUTHENTIC MAN. COULD YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE REAL AND AUTHENTIC WOMAN... OR EVEN YOUR IDEAL WOMAN? This old rotten habit of thinking about man and woman separately has to be dropped. They are not separate. Authenticity is authenticity – it does not matter whether a man is authentic or a woman is authentic....
< Previous | Contents | Next > CHAPTER 5 The White Flame of Life 25 June 1977 am in Buddha Hall A GREAT JAPANESE WARRIOR NAMED NOBUNAGA DECIDED TO ATTACK THE ENEMY ALTHOUGH HE HAD ONLY ONE-TENTH THE NUMBER OF MEN THE OPPOSITION COMMANDED. HE KNEW THAT HE WOULD WIN, BUT HIS SOLDIERS WERE IN DOUBT. ON THE WAY HE STOPPED AT A SHINTO SHRINE AND TOLD HIS MEN: ‘AFTER I VISIT THE SHRINE I WILL TOSS A COIN....
< Previous | Contents | Next > CHAPTER 6 The Door to the Wild 26 June 1977 am in Buddha Hall Question 1 I AM FIFTY, BUT I DON’T YET FEEL REALLY MATURE AND FULLY GROWN UP. WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH ME? Maybe you have not yet killed anybody. That’s a must. If you want to become mature, you have to become a very very skillful murderer. Unless you kill a few persons you will never become mature....
< Previous | Contents | Next > CHAPTER 7 An Explosion of Insight 27 June 1977 am in Buddha Hall SOME CHILDREN WERE PLAYING BESIDE A RIVER. THEY MADE CASTLES OF SAND, AND EACH CHILD DEFENDED HIS CASTLE AND SAID, ‘THIS ONE IS MINE.’ THEY KEEP THEIR CASTLES SEPARATE AND WOULD NOT ALLOW ANY MISTAKES ABOUT WHICH WAS WHOSE. WHEN THE CASTLES WERE ALL FINISHED, ONE CHILD KICKED OVER SOMEONE ELSE’S CASTLE AND COMPLETELY DESTROYED IT....
< Previous | Contents | Next > CHAPTER 8 There is No Back of this Book 28 June 1977 am in Buddha Hall Question 1 THE OTHER DAY YOU TALKED ABOUT BELIEF-SYSTEMS. ONE OF MY BELIEF-SYSTEMS WAS THAT I AM IMPERFECT – THAT I HAVE TO STRIVE FOR PERFECTION. DOING THE SLS (SUCCESSFUL LIVING SEMINAR) I GOT THE FEELING THAT I AM PERFECT AS I AM RIGHT NOW – WITH ALL MY ANGER, GRIEF, LOVE, HATE, SADNESS, BOREDOM, DEFENCES, SEX....
< Previous | Contents | Next > CHAPTER 9 Scratching the Shoe 29 June 1977 am in Buddha Hall A MASTER GOT UP TO ADDRESS A GROUP SEEKING ENLIGHTENMENT AND HAD ONLY THIS TO SAY: ‘HA! HA! HA! WHAT’S ALL THIS? GO TO THE BACK OF THE HALL AND HAVE SOME TEA.’ HE THEN GOT DOWN AND DEPARTED. The only thing that can be said about the ultimate, categorically, is that nothing can be said about it....