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Zentosh

15 Jul, 5 tweets, 2 min read

A Zen Story: Tattoo Inside Your Eyelids

"Tattoo inside your eyelids this reminder:

'you are the messenger, not the message.
You are just like everyone else.' "

This was the advice given by a charismatic Zen teacher to a class of Zen teachers-in-training.

"What do you mean?" they asked her.
"I'll begin with a story about a besieged town that was surrounded by enemies who would slaughter all the inhabitants if help didn't arrive. Just when things looked hopeless, a messenger slipped through enemy lines with the message…

..that the army of the Shogun would attack in the morning and drive off the invaders.
"The townspeople were so enraptured with this news that they treated the messenger like a hero. And after the Shogun's army left, they elected the messenger mayor.

Though a pleasant fellow, the messenger turned out to be a thoroughly inept leader and was soon sent away in disgrace.

"The lesson here is never confuse the message--which is the precious gift of Buddha--with the messenger. You are only a messenger.

"When you stun an audience with the wisdom of a lecture, when your students cede to you the molding of their minds, when you are treated as someone special, focus on the message inside your eyelids:
You are the messenger, not the message. You are just like everyone else."

#zen

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More from @zentosh

Zentosh

@zentosh

10 Jul

A Zen Story: Become a Lake
An aging master grew tired of his apprentice’s complaints. One morning, he sent him to get some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master told him to mix a handful of salt in a glass of water and then drink it.
“How does it taste?” the master asked

“Salty and awful,” said the apprentice.
The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water,

the old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”
As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked, “How does it taste?”
“Fresh,” remarked the apprentice.
“Do you taste the salt?” asked the master.
“No,” said the young man.

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Zentosh

@zentosh

8 Jul

Zen Story: On Oneness

There was once a holy man who lived in a state of ecstasy, but was regarded by everyone as insane. One day, having begged for food in the village, he sat by the roadside and began to eat when a dog came up and looked at him hungrily.

The holy man then began to feed the dog; he himself would take a morsel, then give a morsel to the dog as though he and the dog were old friends. Soon a crowd gathered around the two of them to watch this extraordinary sight.

One of the men in the crowd jeered at the holy man. He said to the others, "What can you expect from someone so crazy that he is not able to distinguish between a human being and a dog?"
The holy man replied, "Why do you laugh? Do you not see Vishnu seated with Vishnu?

Read 4 tweets

Zentosh

@zentosh

7 Jul

A Zen Story: Cutting the Branch.

Once there was a king who received a gift of two magnificent falcons. They were peregrine falcons, the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. He gave the precious birds to his head falconer to be trained.

Months passed, and one day the head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying majestically, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.

The king summoned healers and sorcerers from all the land to tend to the falcon, but no one could make the bird fly.

He presented the task to the member of his court, but the next day, the king saw through the palace window that the bird had still not moved from its perch.

Read 5 tweets

Zentosh

@zentosh

6 Jul

A Zen Story - Taming the animals
One day one person climbed up a mountain where a hermit woman was meditating.
She had taken refuge and was asked:
- “What are you doing here alone in such a solitude place?”
To which she replied:
- “I have lots of work !”

- “And how can you have so much work?
I don't see anything around you here...?”
- “I have to train two hawks and two eagles, assure two rabbits, discipline one snake, motivate a donkey and tame a lion.....”
- “And, where have they gone that I don't see them?”

- “I have them all inside here within me...!!
✓ The hawks stare on everything that is presented to me, good or bad, I have to work on them to see only good things. They are my eyes.
✓ The two eagles with their claws hurt and destroy, I have to train them not to hurt.

Read 6 tweets

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