I thought I’d abandoned it all
Even my body
And yet this snowy night is cold
(From the Way of Everyday Life) Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi – Commentaries on The Shobogenzo
In talking about enlightenment and delusion Maezumi Roshi would often say “I prefer delusion.” To grasp enlightenment, to prefer it, to “stink of Zen” is its own kind of delusion. Grasping enlightenment is sometimes referred to in the Blue Cliff Record as being a “board carrying fellow” -a carpenter with a board on his shoulder that blocks his view of everything else.
To be stuck in delusion, to think that that everything is enlightenment, that any thing I do is fine, misses the wonder of the “Great Way” – the beauty of True Self – our inheritance. One side can make us arrogant, right, the other, self indulgent and coarse.
As The Jefferson Airplane said “One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small.”
To prefer delusion is to become one with your life and death and enter the hall of endless mystery.
This evening the moon shines, pure and white
A magpie shrieks and shrieks in alarm
The lonely sound makes me think of home
But where oh where can I return?
Ryokan
For Joko Beck
Beautiful. Thank you!
very moving, Sensei! Did you know Joko Roshi well?
@Wynn
Thank you Wynn. Its always nice to hear from you.I hope your life is going well.
@Volker
No not well.I have met her and we spoke for a while. I think she was an unusual and remarkable woman.
I was fortunate enough to meet and have dokusan with Joko once, back in the 80′s at ZCLA. And she struck me as a caring, down to earth person. She gave me some advice about my personal life in which she pulled no punches. And she was right on. What I remember – unselfconscious truthfullness. The world has lost a teacher of the way. But I will remember her.