Day: August 23, 2013

Caveat: the flowers are blooming on the old dead tree

Buddhism & Zen

I found this in my Practical Dictionary of Korean-English Buddhist Terms.

온갖 사람들과 만나 무애자재 (無礙自在)하려고 하는 것이 변수행 (徧修行)이다. 철조망을 쳐놓고 수행하는 것만이 수승한 수행은 아닐 것이다. 몽매한 중생 제도를 위해 원효대사는 허리에 바가지를 차고 광대 흉내까지 내셨다.

성인 (聖人)들의 길을 버린 다음 표주박을 허리춤에 차고
저자거리에 나가 술꾼 아니면 푸줏간 주인과 잘도 어울리네.
신선 (神仙)들의 신통력 필요 없으니
오호라! 그가 손을 대자 늙은 고목 (枯木)에서 꽃이 피네.

–십우도 (十牛圖), 入廛垂手–

Marketplace practice: The true practice must be among the common people in their daily lives not in isolation in the deep mountains.

A man abandons the ways of saints and enters the crowded marketplace
With a begging bowl by his side to join the bunch of drunkards and butchers.
Who said that only saints could perform miracles?
A man touches the old dead tree, and Lo! the flowers are blooming on the old dead tree.

–The last scene of the Ten Ox-herding Pictures–

It seems like half-poetry, half commentary.
picture

I’m tired. I need to nap.

CaveatDumpTruck Logo

Caveat: Andrew Was Right

Banalities & Journaling / Buddhism & Zen / Cancer

I was complaining about my hypochondria with respect to my radiation treatments to my brother, earlier this week (or maybe it was at the end of last week?). Something Andrew said struck me as the right perspective. I don’t remember his exact phrasing, but he said, basically, that I need to remember not to make the radiation therapy the center of my life, and have other things going on, and it will be better that way.

And so… that’s what I’ve been doing. After the late dinner last night, I really worked a very full day, today. I corrected essays and proctored a 3 hour exam with lots of annoying technical issues, and felt like a generally productive member of society. And before that, I’d spent over an hour scrubbing various as-yet-unscrubbed surfaces in my new apartment. Not to mention the 2 hour nap before that, and some blogreading, and, well, before that, there was that pesky radiation treatment. In the broader picture, it ends up being just a sort of chore I have to do each weekday morning, nothing more.

I feel very tired, but I feel pretty good. There’s a throbbing pain in my mouth and my neck burns and I had nausea earlier but I don’t care. I’m hungry and then I’m going to bed. I’ll work tomorrow.

Back to Top