Dang Dang Doko Dang - Lecture-07

Be A Light Unto Yourself

LONG AGO, IN JAPAN, A BLIND MAN VISITING A FRIEND ONE NIGHT, WAS OFFERED A PAPER-AND-BAMBOO LANTERN TO CARRY HOME WITH HIM.

'I DO NOT NEED A LANTERN,' HE SAID, 'DARKNESS OR LIGHT IS ALL THE SAME TO ME.'

'I KNOW YOU DO NOT NEED A LANTERN TO FIND YOUR WAY, HIS FRIEND REPLIED, 'BUT YOU MUST TAKE IT BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T HAVE ONE SOMEONE ELSE MAY RUN INTO YOU.'

THE BLIND MAN STARTED OFF WITH THE LANTERN AND BEFORE HE HAD WALKED VERY FAR SOMEONE RAN SQUARELY INTO HIM. 'LOOK OUT WHERE YOU ARE GOING!' HE EXCLAIMED TO THE STRANGER. 'CAN'T YOU SEE THIS LANTERN?'

'YOUR CANDLE HAS BURNT OUT, BROTHER,' REPLIED THE STRANGER.

Dang Dang Doko Dang - Lecture-06

Joy Is The Criterion

The first question:

Question 1:

HOW CAN I KNOW IF DETACHMENT OR INDIFFERENCE IS GROWING WITHIN?

It is not difficult to know. How do you know when you have a headache and how do you know when you don't have a headache? It is simply clear. When you are growing in detachment you will become healthier, happier; your life will become a life of joy. That is the criterion of all that is good. Joy is the criterion. If you are growing in joy, you are growing, and you are getting towards home.

With indifference there is no possibility that joy can grow. In fact, if you have any joy, that will disappear.

Happiness is health, and, to me, religion is basically hedonistic. Hedonism is the very essence of religion. To be happy is all.

Dang Dang Doko Dang - Lecture-05

Two Ladies And A Monk

THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN IN CHINA WHO HAD SUPPORTED A MONK FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS. SHE HAD BUILT A HUT FOR HIM, AND SHE FED HIM WHILE HE WAS MEDITATING.

ONE DAY SHE DECIDED TO FIND OUT JUST WHAT PROGRESS HE HAD MADE IN ALL THIS TIME.

SHE OBTAINED THE HELP OF A GIRL RICH IN DESIRE, AND SAID TO HER: 

'GO AND EMBRACE HIM, AND THEN ASK HIM SUDDENLY, "WHAT NOW?"'

Dang Dang Doko Dang - Lecture-04

When Grapes Are Sour

The first question:

'HAPPINESS IS NOT BEING SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT TO WORRY

ABOUT.' PLEASE COMMENT.

This must have been said by a very unhappy man, and yet a very egoistic one. He cannot recognise the fact that unhappiness is created by being unintelligent. He is trying to save his ego. He is saying that the grapes are sour.

To be unhappy no intelligence is needed. Everybody is capable of being unhappy but happiness is very, very rare. Great talent is needed. Not only intellect, intelligence is needed. Only rarely does a Buddha, a Krishna, become happy. It is almost impossible to be happy.

Dang Dang Doko Dang - Lecture-03

'As within, so without'

AFTER BANKEI HAD PASSED AWAY, A BLIND MAN WHO LIVED NEAR THE MASTER'S TEMPLE SAID TO A FRIEND: 'SINCE I AM BLIND I CANNOT WATCH A PERSON'S FACE, SO I MUST JUDGE HIS CHARACTER BY THE SOUND OF HIS VOICE.

ORDINARILY WHEN I HEAR SOMEONE CONGRATULATE ANOTHER UPON HIS HAPPINESS OR SUCCESS, I ALSO HEAR A SECRET TONE OF ENVY.

WHEN CONDOLENCE IS EXPRESSED FOR THE MISFORTUNE OF ANOTHER, I HEAR PLEASURE AND SATISFACTION, AS IF THE ONE CONDOLING WAS

REALLY GLAD THERE WAS SOMETHING LEFT TO GAIN IN HIS OWN WORLD.

'IN ALL MY EXPERIENCE HOWEVER, BANKEI'S VOICE WAS ALWAYS SINCERE. WHENEVER HE EXPRESSED HAPPINESS, I HEARD NOTHING BUT HAPPINESS, AND WHENEVER HE EXPRESSED SORROW, SORROW WAS ALL I HEARD.'

Dang Dang Doko Dang - Lecture-02

Magicless Magic

Question 1:

YESTERDAY WHILE SITTING IN ZAZEN I FELT MYSELF GET HIT WITH A STICK ON MY HEAD. BUT PRADEEPA THAT TIME HAD NOT HIT ME. ALSO TODAY DURING THE LECTURE I GOT HIT TWICE ON THE HEAD BUT NO STICK-HITTER WAS AROUND. IS THIS MAGICLESS MAGIC?

It is sheer imagination, and on the path of meditation imagination is the greatest pitfall.

Be aware of it. You can imagine so deeply and you can believe in your imagination so intensely that it can appear more real than the real.

Imagination is a great force. On the path of meditation, imagination is a barrier; on the path of love, imagination is a help. On the path of love, imagination is used as a device:

Dang Dang Doko Dang - Lecture-01

Never Pretend, Even About Skulls

THE MASTER FUGAI WAS CONSIDERED VERY WISE AND GENEROUS, YET HE WAS MOST SEVERE BOTH WITH HIMSELF AND HIS DISCIPLES.

HE WENT TO THE MOUNTAINS TO SIT IN ZEN. HE LIVED IN A CAVE, AND WHEN HE WAS HUNGRY HE WENT TO THE VILLAGE FOR SCRAPS.

ONE DAY A MONK CALLED BUNDO, ATTRACTED BY FUGAI'S AUSTERITIES, CALLED AT THE CAVE AND ASKED TO STAY THE NIGHT.

THE MASTER SEEMED HAPPY TO PUT HIM UP, AND NEXT MORNING PREPARED RICE GRUEL FOR HIM. NOT HAVING AN EXTRA BOWL HE WENT OUT AND RETURNED WITH A SKULL HE FOUND LYING NEAR A TOMB. HE FILLED IT WITH GRUEL AND OF OFFERED IT TO BUNDO.

THE GUEST REFUSED TO TOUCH IT, AND STARED AT FUGAI AS IF HE HAD GONE MAD.