Sun, 10 Sep 2006
Three Stooges Zen
This story is taken from Seikan Hasegawa's book "Mind to Mind."
When he was fifty, Kanzan Egen heard of National Teacher Daito and travelled to his monastery to become his student. After three years he had completed his koan study and Daito advised him to conceal himself and perfect his training. So he built a hermitage in the mountains and cultivated a small field to support himself. He was not a farmer and asked his neighbors for advice. When he asked how much manure to apply to the soil, one replied, lick the soil and if it's sweet, it'll do. He continued his practice until one day the Emperor asked Daito who should teach him after Daito's death. Daito said he had one dharma successor, Kanzen Egen. The Emperor sent a minster to search for him and when he found Egen, offered him one of his palaces for his monastery. The neighbors were amazed to find the threadbare hermit was a Zen master and one couple tearfully asked him how they should live their life. Egen asked them to draw near and he knocked their heads together. "Never forget what you have just experienced," he said and left for Kyoto.
I've got Drupon's Labor Day talk online. It's on generating the deity in tantric practice.
