Koans

The changing of names is quite a fun exercise Just be sure you don't cause offence etc and remember that the main purpose of the koan must still be in its originality

If You Love, Love Openly

Twenty male Jedi and one female Jedi, who was named toastie, were practicing meditation with Br John.

toastie was very pretty even though her hair was untidy and her dress plain. Several Jedi secretly fell in love with her. One of them wrote her a love letter, insisting upon a private meeting.

toastie did not reply. The following day Br John gave a lecture to the group, and when it was over, toastie arose. Addressing Akkarin, the one who had written to her, she said: "If you really love me so much, come and embrace me now."

Not sure if there's anything more romantic than your boyfriend writing you a koan

Jestor, ever the trouble maker, was generally helpful...

But sometimes, his "help" could create more work for those around him...

Ren, the slave driver, said, "Slow down and pay attention to what you are reading, and writing!"

Jestor, ever the wise-acre, said, "No time, I'm in a hurry!"

Ren, only nodded knowingly, saying, "Well, you are going fast enough, you will have extra time to fix it when you are done the first time. Good thinking! If you would have taken your time, and checked your work, you would have run out of time to fix anything."

Quote toastie : "Not sure if there's anything more romantic than your boyfriend writing you a koan

"




Awwww ....

It would have to rank up there on the romantic scale quite highly ...

toastie wrote: Not sure if there's anything more romantic than your boyfriend writing you a koan

THE CUTEST THING EVER. OMG. hahaha.

Now I won't be satisfied with simple flowers

toastie wrote: Not sure if there's anything more romantic than your boyfriend writing you a koan

Yes... wrote... not copied-pasted and edited... :silly:

Honesty rises above romance right?

A little wu wei to make up for it?

Great Waves

In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, Great Waves.

O-nami was immensely strong and knew the art of wrestling. In his private bouts he defeated even his teacher, but in public he was so bashful that his own pupils threw him.

O-nami felt he should go to a Zen master for help. Hakuju, a wandering teacher, was stopping in a little temple nearby, so O-nami went to see him and told him of his trouble.

"Great Waves is your name," the teacher advised, "so stay in this temple tonight. Imagine that you are those billows. You are no longer a wrestler who is afraid. You are those huge waves sweeping everything before them, swallowing all in their path. Do this and you will be the greatest wrestler in the land."

The teacher retired. O-nami sat in meditation trying to imagine himself as waves. He thought of many different things. Then gradually he turned more and more to the feeling of the waves. As the night advanced the waves became larger and larger. They swept away the flowers in their vases. Even the Buddha in the shrine was inundated. Before dawn the temple was nothing but the ebb and flow of an immense sea.

In the morning the teacher found O-nami meditating, a faint smile on his face. He patted the wrestler's shoulder. "Now nothing can disturb you," he said. "You are those waves. You will sweep everything before you."

The same day O-nami entered the wrestling contests and won. After that, no one in Japan was able to defeat him.

Akkarin wrote:

toastie wrote: Not sure if there's anything more romantic than your boyfriend writing you a koan

Yes... wrote... not copied-pasted and edited... :silly:

Honesty rises above romance right?

You ruined everything!

Not Far From Buddhahood (originally posted on this site by Brother John, but I'm sure originated elsewhere)

A university student while visiting the Zen Master Gasan asked him: "Have you even read the Christian Bible?"

"No, read it to me," said Gasan.

The student opened the Bible and read from St. Matthew: "And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these...Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."

Gasan said: "Whoever uttered those words I consider and enlightened man."

The student continued reading: "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, is shall be opened."

Gasan remarked: "That is excellent. Whoever said that is not far from Buddhahood."

It is fun to edit -- and for a poet it is "wu wei" ...



Soldiers of Humanity

Once a division of the U.N. Police Action Forces was engaged in a sham battle, and some of the officers found it necessary to make their headquarters in the Temple of the Jedi Order.

Br. John told his cook: "Let the officers have only the same simple fare we eat."

This made the army men angry, as they wre used to very deferential treatment. One came to Br. John and said: "Who do you think we are? We are soldiers, sacrificing our lives for our country. Why don't you treat us accordingly?"

Br. John answered sternly: "Who do you think we are? We are soldiers of humanity, aiming to save all sentient beings."