How far will you carry the baggage?

Once a guru and his disciple were walking in the forest and came across a river. At one end of the river were a few young women who wanted to cross the river as well. But the water was too deep for them and they were not able to cross the river. Seeing this, the guru picked up each one of them one by one and carried them to the other side of the river. In the end, they crossed the river themselves and kept on walking on their course.
Now, the younger monk got to thinking; for a sanyassi it is wrong to touch a woman! How come then, his guru, an age-old, respected monk, not only touch a woman, but carried a whole bunch of them across the river? He thought not only had his guru committed a terrible sin, but in fact cheated the whole order of monks, and hence betrayed him! "How blindly did I trust this man! But he is a traitor and has cheated me. He is no Guru, he is a quack!" Such were his thoughts throughout the journey.
At the end of the day, they reached a small hut where they were planning on staying for the night. All this time, the guru had seen the restlessness of the disciple, but kept quiet. But for the disciple, it was becoming too much! Finally, it became impossible for him to hold it in anymore! He blurted out "How could you touch those women and carry them in your shoulders? Dont you know it is a sin to touch a woman's body for a monk?"
At this, the Master simply smiled, and replied "My child, they are not women for me, but simply human beings, who were in need of help. And it is my duty to help whoever is in need of it!
However, I left the women at the bank of the river. But you kept carrying them in your mind all this time!"
At this, the young disciple realized that his guru is a realized man! No sin can touch him, but it is his own folly, which makes him think bad of his guru. He apologized for his behavior and there was no more any doubt in his mind!


In some way or another, we are all like the young monk. Not because he doubted, but because he was carrying an unnecessary baggage with him. Since the time a man begins understanding things, there is a feeling in him that the world is unfair to him! Everyone is unfortunate in some respect, some more than others! The people we meet always inflict pain to us in some form or another! A trusted friend betrays you, a dear relative you like very much hurts you or an unknown person in the street insults you for no reason! We expect a person to behave in a certain manner, and when he/she does not, we become extremely unhappy. All these stay in our mind for so long, pecking at it minute by minute and make us miserable! We all have this extra baggage that keeps pulling us down!

So what do we do? We should throw away this baggage! True that the world is unfair to you! True that the people around you could have been and should have been more considerate and supportive of your feelings! True you deserved more affection! But what is the solution to it? One option is to become a victim of the situations and stay victimized. Curse the fate, cry over it and loose all hope!

The other, more righteous approach is to rise like a phoenix! Become a bigger person and show it to the world. When one is a child, one fights all the time in school for the simplest of things. At that point of time, it is a matter of life and death to the child! However, if the same two kids meet when they are older, the matter for which they once fought is forgotten. Their spectrum has widened, the outlook changed! Why cant we have the same outlook towards life? Why cant we carry the message of love for the world? When you start caring for the world, when you see the amount of suffering in the world, the small things around you seem so trivial that it is almost a sin to care about them! For a king ruling a kingdom, the feud in two villagers in not a thing to worry, he has a whole kingdom to care!

There was a photograph in a forward going around some time back. It was of a small African child dying out of malnutrition. It had the tiniest possible arms, not a single muscle to show, and it was lying on the ground with eyes barely open, giving a helpless look. A vulture was standing right by it, ready to take a bite of that most unfortunate child as soon as it dies! It is the most shocking photo I have ever seen! (The photographer was given a prize for the picture and he committed suicide within 6 months because he could not bare the trauma of that sight!)

Can there be more misfortune in this world? What importance are the smallest of the things in life when a child has to see its own death waiting to take a bite from his body? Who cares if there is less sugar in a tea when millions around the world have not had a single decent meal all their lives? What right do we have to complain of a simple momentary pleasure denied to us when thousands around the world have no idea what comfort means?

It is with this perspective that we need to leave all our baggage behind! The world is at the same a very wonderful and a very horrible place. It is for us to enjoy and mend at the same time! We have to uplift our lowly lives to the level where the happiness of all around us becomes our happiness! Without expectations, without a possibility of recognition, with strong determination and immense strength, we should lift ourselves and try to achieve this goal of happiness for all! We have to fly in the sky as high as possible, all of us together! The sooner we leave the baggage behind, the higher shall we rise!

Let us all get the strength to fly high! Let us all learn to love and forgive, let us become free of all the baggage!

Duality, yin-yang and the nature of life

To say that this post is inspired from a chapter in the book 'The Tao of Physics' might be an understatement. Not only am I taking concepts and images from the book, some of the analysis also finds its source there! Anyway, I think this might be an interesting read (its going to be an interesting write for sure!) Interested readers can read the book for better analysis.

The basic conjecture in Tao, the Chinese philosophy is that there is an underlying equilibrium of two opposing forces in nature. The Chinese call these the yang and the yin. The yang symbolizes the maculine nature of reality, the rational, calculating, analyzing side; whereas the yin represents the feminine, the more sensitive, delicate, conscious side of things. Chinese believe that all human life is an interplay between these two forces, and an equilibrium is desired between the two for a smooth functioning of things.

To a certain extent, the same idea is also seen in Indian thought as well. Indians once believed in the concept of purush and prakruti, which bear some semblence to the yang and the yin respectively. The concept of 'arda-narishwar' avatara of Shiva (having half woman's and half man's body) is also a representation of the same.

This duality is not only seen in human nature, but also in all things in life. Every aspect of life has this dual nature, or rather everything has these seemingly opposite extremes to itself. Good-evil, success-failure, life-death, expansion-contraction, up-down, positive-negative are all examples of these opposites.

The greatness of Chinese (and also Indian) philosophy lies not in the realization of this duality of things, but in overcoming the so-called opposite natures of the duality, and realizing the underlying unity in them. For this, a simple diagram is used (again from the book!).


Consider a path taken by a particle rotating in the circle. The particle is nature and it rotates along the circle of life. The basic nature of Nature is to keep rotating. However, the human conscience perceives this circle of life, not from the top as seen in the left side of the picture, but from side, as seen in the left; and hence sees a projection of the same! So, what we see is that the nature oscillates between two opposite ends, and hence the apparent extremes in everything! In the projection, there is an up and a down, a positive and a negative, which is essentially how we perceive the world!

The realization, then, is simply changing the frame of references from a projection to the real nature of Nature, that of the revolving circle! This is the Tao. This is also the moksha in Indian thought, where uplifting one from the cycle of life and death is desired! What is a consequence of this? We realize that there is nothing absolutely good or bad, but the Absolute is beyond good or bad! There is no complete happiness or sorrow, but the Perfection is beyond both of these. We realize ups and downs in life are not absolute, but the real nature of life is beyond both.

The daily grind of life is like running in the circle round and round and round, while consfusing ourselves with the false successes and failures. If we take a moment to look, we realize it is neither about running as fast as we can, nor going as high as we can; but about understanding that the highs and lows, ups and downs are but the two sides of the same thing, and that one is bound to follow the other. We do our work with this inevitable sequence in mind, and work without the desire of fruits in a completely detached fashion. This is message of Tao, this is the message of Gita, and this is the essence of life.

May we all lead our lives following this ideology and may we all proceed in our paths towards the realization of the true nature of life!

Casteism in Vedas

The purpose of this post is to give a translation of the Vajra Suchika Upanishad, which discusses castes in Vedas, and talks about the evolution of man to the Perfect Being, Brahman.

The term 'vajra' means a thunderbolt and 'suchika' means a needle. Together, this Upanishad is supposed to be as strong as a thunderbolt and yet as piercing as a needle in the removal of ignorance and the illumination of knowldege.

The shlokas are from Wiki(http://wikisource.org/wiki/वज्रसूचि_उपनिषद्) and the transaltion is from here:http://hinduwebsite.com/vajrasuchika.asp

॥ श्री गुरुभ्यो नमः हरिः ॐ ॥

यज्ञ्ज्ञानाद्यान्ति मुनयो ब्राह्मण्यं परमाद्भुतम् ।
तत्रैपद्ब्रह्मतत्त्वमहमस्मीति चिंतये ॥

ॐ आप्यायन्त्विति शान्तिः ॥

चित्सदानन्दरूपाय सर्वधीवृत्तिसाक्षिणे ।
नमो वेदान्तवेद्याय ब्रह्मणेऽनन्तरूपिणे ॥

ॐ वज्रसूचीं प्रवक्ष्यामि शास्त्रमज्ञानभेदनम् ।
दूषणं ज्ञानहीनानां भूषणं ज्ञानचक्षुषाम् ॥ १ ॥

(After bowing down to Guru, and wishing peace to all concerned) I am now going to teach you the knowledge of Vajrasuci which dispels ignorance, condemns the ignorant and elevates those who possess the eye of wisdom.

ब्राह्मक्षत्रियवैष्यशूद्रा इति चत्वारो वर्णास्तेषां वर्णानां ब्राह्मण एव
प्रधान इति वेदवचनानुरूपं स्मृतिभिरप्युक्तम् ।

तत्र चोद्यमस्ति को वा ब्राह्मणो नाम किं जीवः किं देहः किं जातिः किं
ज्ञानं किं कर्म किं धार्मिक इति ॥

The Brahmana, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya and the Sudra: these are the four varnas. The Vedas proclaim that the Brahmana is the first among them and the smritis also affirm it. There is however an interesting aspect about this. Actually who is this whom we refer by the name Brahmana? Is he (the subtle body known as) Jiva ? Is he the physical body? Is he (the descendent of) the community to which he belongs? Is he (the possessor of) the knowledge? Is he (the doer of) the actions he undertakes? Is he (the performer of) the religious rites he performs?


तत्र प्रथमो जीवो ब्राह्मण इति चेत् तन्न ।
अतीतानागतानेकदेहानां
जीवस्यैकरूपत्वात् एकस्यापि कर्मवशादनेकदेहसंभवात् सर्वशरीराणां
जीवस्यैकरूपत्वाच्च ।
तस्मात् न जीवो ब्राह्मण इति ॥

Of this the first premise that Brahmana is jiva is not tenable because the same jiva enters different bodies in previous lives. Although it is one, due to the impact of the past deeds and desires the same jiva happens to reside in many bodies (in different lives). Therefore a Brahmana is not on account of the jiva.

तर्हि देहो ब्राह्मण इति चेत् तन्न ।
आचाण्डालादिपर्यन्तानां मनुष्याणां
पञ्चभौतिकत्वेन देहस्यैकरूपत्वात्
जरामरणधर्माधर्मादिसाम्यदर्शनत् ब्राह्मणः श्वेतवर्णः क्षत्रियो
रक्तवर्णो वैश्यः पीतवर्णः शूद्रः कृष्णवर्णः इति नियमाभावात् ।
पित्रादिशरीरदहने पुत्रादीनां ब्रह्महत्यादिदोषसंभवाच्च ।
तस्मात् न देहो ब्राह्मण इति ॥

Then coming to the statement that the body is Brahmana, this also is not acceptable because universally the body is composed of the self same five elements (the earth, the water, the fire, the air and the ether), from the Brahmanas down to the lowest of the human class and subject to the same processes of old age and death, good and evil in all. One cannot also generalize that the Brahmanas have white complexion, the Kshatriyas red complexion, the Vaishyas brown complexion and the Sudras dark complexion,( because these colors are not uniform among these classes). Besides the bodies can become tainted with such sins as the killing of Brahmans, improper cremation of bodies by their descendents and so on. Therefore a Brahmana is not so because of the body.

तर्हि जाति ब्राह्मण इति चेत् तन्न ।
तत्र
जात्यन्तरजन्तुष्वनेकजातिसंभवात् महर्षयो बहवः सन्ति ।
ऋष्यशृङ्गो मृग्याः,कौशिकः कुशात्,जाम्बूको जाम्बूकात्,वाल्मीको
वाल्मीकात्,व्यासः कैवर्तकन्यकायाम्,शशपृष्ठात् गौतमः,
वसिष्ठ उर्वश्याम्,अगस्त्यः कलशे जात इति शृतत्वात् ।
एतेषां
जात्या विनाप्यग्रे ज्ञानप्रतिपादिता ऋषयो बहवः सन्ति ।
तस्मात्
न जाति ब्राह्मण इति ॥

Then it is said that a Brahmana is so because of his caste. This is not acceptable because there are diverse communities in the world, even in the animal world, and the seers and sages come from different communities. We have heard from the sacred scriptures that many seers were of animal origin. Rishyasringa was born of a deer, Kaushika came from the grass, Jambuka from a Jackal, Valkimi from an ant hill, Vyasa from a fisher girl, Gautama from the back of a hare, Vashista from the celestial nymph Urvasi, Agastya from an earthen vessel. Among these many have attained the highest rank, despite of their lower birth and given proof of their wisdom. Therefore a Brahmana is not so because of his community.


तर्हि ज्ञानं ब्राह्मण इति चेत् तन्न ।
क्षत्रियादयोऽपि
परमार्थदर्शिनोऽभिज्ञा बहवः सन्ति ।
तस्मात् न ज्ञानं ब्राह्मण इति ॥

The argument that knowledge makes a Brahmana is also not acceptable because many Kshatriyas and others have seen the Highest Reality and attained perfect knowledge. Therefore a Brahmana is not so because of his knowledge.


तर्हि कर्म ब्राह्मण इति चेत् तन्न ।
सर्वेषां प्राणिनां
प्रारब्धसञ्चितागामिकर्मसाधर्म्यदर्शनात्कर्माभिप्रेरिताः सन्तो जनाः
क्रियाः कुर्वन्तीति ।
तस्मात् न कर्म ब्राह्मण इति ॥

That karma (actions) make a Brahmana is not acceptable because we see the existence of prarabdha and sanchita karma in all beings. Impelled by their previous karma only all the saintly people perform their deeds. Therefore a Brahmana is not so because of (present) karma.


तर्हि धार्मिको ब्राह्मण इति चेत् तन्न ।
क्षत्रियादयो हिरण्यदातारो बहवः
सन्ति ।
तस्मात् न धार्मिको ब्राह्मण इति ॥

Then it is also not true that on account of dharma (religious duty or activity) is a Brahmana. There are many Kshatriyas who have given away gold as charity. Therefore a Brahmana is not on account of dharma


तर्हि को वा ब्रह्मणो नाम ।
यः कश्चिदात्मानमद्वितीयं जातिगुणक्रियाहीनं
षडूर्मिषड्भावेत्यादिसर्वदोषरहितं सत्यज्ञानानन्दानन्तस्वरूपं
स्वयं निर्विकल्पमशेषकल्पाधारमशेषभूतान्तर्यामित्वेन
वर्तमानमन्तर्यहिश्चाकाशवदनुस्यूतमखण्डानन्दस्वभावमप्रमेयं
अनुभवैकवेद्यमपरोक्षतया भासमानं करतळामलकवत्साक्षादपरोक्षीकृत्य
कृतार्थतया कामरागादिदोषरहितः शमदमादिसंपन्नो भाव मात्सर्य
तृष्णा आशा मोहादिरहितो दम्भाहङ्कारदिभिरसंस्पृष्टचेता वर्तत
एवमुक्तलक्षणो यः स एव ब्राह्मणेति शृतिस्मृतीतिहासपुराणाभ्यामभिप्रायः
अन्यथा हि ब्राह्मणत्वसिद्धिर्नास्त्येव ।

सच्चिदानान्दमात्मानमद्वितीयं ब्रह्म भावयेदित्युपनिषत् ॥
ॐ आप्यायन्त्विति शान्तिः ॥
॥ इति वज्रसूच्युपनिषत्समाप्ता ॥
॥ भारतीरमणमुख्यप्राणंतर्गत श्रीकृष्णार्पणमस्तु ॥

Then who is to be known by the name Brahmana? He who succeeds in perceiving directly the self without a second like an amalaka fruit in the palm of his hand, who is devoid of the distinction of caste, trait and action, who is devoid of all the faults such as the six imperfections and the six states of being, who is of the nature of truth, knowledge, bliss and infinity, who is self existent, without will power, but the impeller and supporter of all will power, who exists in all as the indwelling spirit, who is within and without of all like the ether, who is of the nature of indivisible bliss, immeasurable, known only through ones direct experience, who manifests himself directly as truth, who has successfully overcome such imperfections as desire and passion, who is filled with the riches of tranquility, who has eliminated from his being such states as envy, greed and infatuation, who lives unaffected by such things as ostentation and egoism- these aforesaid qualities make up a Brahmana. This is the opinion expressed by all the srutis (Vedas), smritis (religious books), Puranas (ancient lore) and the Ithihasas (historical works). Otherwise it is impossible to attain Brahmanahood. Meditate upon Brahman, the inmost Self, who is of the nature of truth, consciousness and bliss and who is without a second. Meditate upon Brahman, the very Self, who is without a second. This is the Upanishad.

The song of the Free

I was originally planning to post The Song of the Sannyasin, but instead found this one, 'The Song of the Free' and liked it instantly.

Of all the people who have influenced my life and thinking, I would put teacher-student pair of Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and Swami Vivekananda at the very top. Swami Vivekananda (maybe I will write a blog on my admiration for him some time) was probably the only saint in modern times to lay stress on individual freedom as much as on spiritual freedom, or the freedom to practise any path towards God. In his words, "We are all born free, the sole aim is to realize that freedom". In this poem, he describes the nature of such a Free Being.


The Song Of The Free

The wounded snake its hood unfurls,
The flame stirred up doth blaze,
The desert air resounds the calls
Of heart-struck lion's rage.

The cloud puts forth it deluge strength
When lightning cleaves its breast,
When the soul is stirred to its in most depth
Great ones unfold their best.

Let eyes grow dim and heart grow faint,
And friendship fail and love betray,
Let Fate its hundred horrors send,
And clotted darkness block the way.

All nature wear one angry frown,
To crush you out - still know, my soul,
You are Divine. March on and on,
Nor right nor left but to the goal.

Nor angel I, nor man, nor brute,
Nor body, mind, nor he nor she,
The books do stop in wonder mute
To tell my nature; I am He.

Before the sun, the moon, the earth,
Before the stars or comets free,
Before e'en time has had its birth,
I was, I am, and I will be.

The beauteous earth, the glorious sun,
The calm sweet moon, the spangled sky,
Causation's law do make them run;
They live in bonds, in bonds they die.

And mind its mantle dreamy net
Cast o'er them all and holds them fast.
In warp and woof of thought are set,
Earth, hells, and heavens, or worst or best.

Know these are but the outer crust -
All space and time, all effect, cause.
I am beyond all sense, all thoughts,
The witness of the universe.

Not two nor many, 'tis but one,
And thus in me all me's I have;
I cannot hate, I cannot shun
Myself from me, I can but love.

From dreams awake, from bonds be free,
Be not afraid. This mystery,
My shadow, cannot frighten me,
Know once for all that I am He.

- Swami Vivekananda.


In the first few stanzas Swamiji glorifies the Free nature of Spirit saying it is so strong that neither the wicked forces of nature, nor the quirks of fate nor the calamities of life can break the Self. It verily reminds one of Krishna's words in Gita about the atman,
"nainam chindanti sastrani
nainam dahati pavakah
na cainam kledayanty apo
na sosayati marutah"

Or 'Him the weapon cannot pierce, Him the fire cannot burn, nor can the rains wet Him or the wind blow him away'
Such is the Self, or the true nature of Man.

The following verses sing the free nature of the Self and hence the poem becomes first person. The 'I', like Sri Krishna in Gita, speaks of the true nature of the Self. Hence I am neither a man, angel or a brute and so on. The Self is free of time, space and causation because each of these talk of duality, and Self has no duality.

'The books do stop in wonder mute' is the reiteration of the Upanishadic verses which mention the Self as 'neti neti' or simply 'not this, not this'.

The last but one verse, 'Not two nor many, 'tis but one,' is a simply wonderful explanation of Advaitic Bhakti. If I am One, all others are in me! Hence I cannot hate or shun anyone, but can only love them and in turn love myself. This is the biggest message of love, 'Love thy neighbour as you love thyself'. Swamiji gives a wonderful explanation of that teaching in this verse!

And the last stanza is a beautiful summary of the concept of Self-Realization!
My shadow, cannot frighten me,
Know once for all that I am He.
Maya, the eternal shadow that engulfs the human beings and makes him think that He is finite and keeps him engulfed in itself, cannot frighten the Self. The aim is to know once and for all, 'I am He'. I am the Infinite, Immutable, Immortal Bliss with no boundaries, no limitations, no form or attributes! I am He! Or in words of Upanishads, "Tat tvam asi".

May we all progress in our path towards the realization of our true Self!

Abbot's Gift

This post is a followup to some of the questions raised in the original blog on koans.

This is my interpretation of this the koan Abbot's gift.

Things become a little clearer here when one looks at them from the Zen Master's or Abbot's perspective. He knows that the monk is young and new to Zen order, hence wants to teach him something before he goes. In order to do that, he simply gives the monk two choices, either hold the burning coal or disrespect him. Both of them are difficult and the young monk chooses the third way, i.e. to run from making a choice. But, as in life, he cannot do so infinitely. Noone can run ffrom decisions all the time and HAS to make a choice.

So the monk starts meditating on the problem, until he realizes what is the right choice. Not taking the coal and disrespecting the abbot would mean he is going back on his path of Zen, whereas holding the coal will only burn his body. The right choice (since his life's aim as a monk is to advance in Zen) is to take the coal, which is what he decides to do.

On coming to meet the abbot, he immediately thanks the abbot for making him decide in life's choices. That was Abbot's gift to the monk. Since the abbot realizes the disciple has already learnt what he wanted him to, he keeps the coal back and bids the young monk good-bye.


Alternative Explanation:
This is another interpretation I could think of.

As per Buddhist and Zen philosophy, the body does not exist. When the monk comes to visit the abbot first, he is not of that opinion (or has not realized it) and values his body very much. In 3 weeks, he meditates hard and has become Enlightened, and hence realizes the body will not burn since it does not exist. (There are stories when monks with enough meditation are Englightened in a split second).

When he revists the abbot, he thanks him for helping him enlighten. The abbot realizes the young monk needs no further training and bids him goodbye.

(P.S. If anyone else has other interpretations, please put forth. I will be most interested to discuss them!)

(Also posted this on Orkut).

sambhavami yuge yuge - need of the hour

Sri Krishna says in Gita
'yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srjamyaham
paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge'

Literally speaking, (or what the 'asitis' guys call the purport), Sri Krishna, in this verse assures that 'whenever the 'dharma' is subdued, and the 'adharma' rises its head, He will 'spring' up. He will appear for saving the good men and destroy the evil ones and establish the 'dharma' from time to time.

On the face of it, this is a straightforward verse, merely Krishna promising that He, as the savior will appear from time to time and save the good men. But the thing is, I find the idea of a personal, acting, talking God faulty. I will first state why.

As per Vedanta (of which Gita is supposed to be a sweet summary), the Supreme Being is One, Infinite, Omnipresent and Unchanging. Now, if something is Infinite, it does not obey laws of time, space and causation (for Infinite is One, and all three of these require the concept of atleast two present); or the concept of any of these does not exist for Him. In plain words, the Infinite Being is immutable.

Now, the question is this, why does Krishna, who is of course a realized Soul, fully aware of this Supreme Consciousness, speaking or acting as the Immortal being say that He will come back as the savior, when clearly He is Immutable/Impersonal?
What makes him say the 'nirgun' 'nirakar' Being of which He is aware, takes a human form (which is a change) and takes efforts to establish dharma, destroy miscreants and save the sadhus?

Well, this is my interpretation.

IMO, what Krishna is reiterating is a fundamental law of this Universe. He merely states that whenever there is too much evil, when people become against their dharma (nature), fault in their duties, there is a resurgence of good, of stability of progress. What has gone down comes up, rises again and reaches the highest point, until the decline starts again. The cycle is complete and continuous.

But there is still the 'sambhavami yuge yuge'! Not only does He say that 'dharma' will be restored, but adds that He himself will be doing it. What He means is that He, the Supreme Being is in every individual to be manifested. It is through the common people, the oppressed and the oppressors that He acts! Whenever there is evil one or many of these oppressed men and women act and there is the establishment of a new system. When He assures that He will 'spring' up (Srujami aham), this is the uprising he is talking about. There are seers and leaders and prophets in every period of time, but the force behind a mass movement is the common people, who fight tyranny, ill will, oppression and help setup a new system based on values of righteousness, justice and equality. That is the 'dharma' He talks about.

So the people who sit with folded hands hoping the savior from sky will come down and slay the evil-doers are doomed. There is no external savior, He resides in us only, in each one and all of us. Realizing this fact and rising up to work is the need of the hour. No amount of praying is going to help, there are so many of us who have no food, no education, there are others who have been illed against by other humans or by nature. And when we do nothing about them that is the sleep 'dharma' has fallen into. Man not caring for man is the resurgence of 'adharma', and we are the ones who should be fighting it. God is within us, we need to act as he says!

May we all realize our true form and fulfil what Krishna rightly says, the establiishment of the true 'dharma' of humanity!

Kill the Buddha

I am not so sure if this qualifies as a koan, but is surely interesting.
There is an old saying (in Zen):
"If you meet the Budhha on the road, kill him".

At first sight, nothing in the sentence above makes even an iota of sense. First, we all know Budhha died ages ago, so how can we meet him on the road? Second, even if we do meet him, why and how to kill him?

Read on if you decide you are not going to think over this any further on your own.

The first thing we must realize, and it is that 'the road' is not literal! The 'road' signifies the path of spiritual progress. And there is a good explanation of this puzzle in realizing just that. As this guy points it out, what is meant by Buddha is any knowledgable or seemingly knowledgable person. And by kill him, the advice is to shun him or disregard him. Taken together, the hidden meaning or the surmise is 'If on the path of spiritual progress, you see a person claiming to be an authority, disregard him'. Like Shakyamuni himself said, 'Be a lamp unto thyself'. Remove all authority, follow your brain, and analyze everything for yourself. The whole saying does make sense in this manner.

I would like to propose a different, personal interpretation as follows: Buddha correctly identified the root cause of all sorrow as 'desire'. As per him, the desire to have what you dont have or be what you are not, leads to all agony and suffering. In the path of spiritual progress, the first step is to leave all material desires to become the enlightened one. One needs to have a sole aim in life, and that is to realize the truth. But the above sentence asks us to go one step further. On this path towards truth, the seeker reaches a point where he has a sole desire and that is to be enlightened, to meet the Buddha. But the desire to become enlightened itself proves as a hindrance in the path of being enlightened. The right thing to do at this point of time is to leave or kill even this desire of being Enlightened and become truly desireless just like Shakyamuni. Killing the desire to be a Buddha is the only way to become Buddha.
Thus, one must not even heed 'Buddha' on the path, and shun (kill) him.

koans

(This post has been taken from a post by me on Orkut).

A koan (pronounced /ko.an/) is a story, dialog, question, or statement in the history and lore of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, generally containing aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet that may be accessible to intuition.

It is said that koans are the way of Zen for expressing that which cannot be expressed in words (or the truth).

This is supposedly the most famous koan:
"Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?"

It is said that the one who can hear the sound of one hand is a Buddha or the Enlightened one. It is also said that it takes sometimes three years [http://www3.tky.3web.ne.jp/~edjacob/koan.html] to realize a koan, because essentially, to realize a koan you have to stop your mind from thinking and simply realize the truth of koan. Hence, koans are the means used by Zen Masters to train and test their pupils.


Abbott's gift
A Zen monk, early in his training, is preparing to leave the monastery and switch locations, for that is common in the Zen practice. Before he leaves he goes to the abbot of the monastery to say goodbye. He does so, but the abbot says he has a gift for him. Now, it is part of the Japanese way to accept gifts and be appreciative; to do otherwise is rude and, therefore, wrong. The abbot takes a pair of tongs and picks up a red hot coal from the adjacent fire pit on which he has a tea kettle.

The young monk starts to contemplate what he should do, and after a few moments, runs out of the hall distressed, for he cannot figure out what he is supposed to do. He can take the coal and be burned, or he can refuse the gift of the abbot. Both, in his mind, are things he cannot do.

He meditates on the problem for the next week, and comes back to say goodbye. However, the same scene is played again, and the same frustration is found when he tries to figure out what the abbot wants him to do.

He meditates further on the subject and feels he has discovered how to respond to the abbot's gift. He returns, for the third time, to say goodbye to the abbot, and as before the abbot picks up a red hot coal and presents it as a gift to the young monk. The young monk simply replies, "Thank you."

The abbot breaks a grin, nods his head, and returns the coal to the fire pit. "You may go now," he says.

How does one explain this koan? What message does it give? I have some ideas, will post a continuation (hopefully) in a few days.