"Master, I have an ungovernable temper. How can I cure it?""You have something very strange," replied Bankei. "Let me see what you have." "Just now I cannot show it to you," replied the other. "When can you show it to me?" asked Bankei. "It arises unexpectedly," replied the student. "Then," concluded Bankei, "it must not be your true nature. If it were, you could show it to me at any time. When you were born you did not have it, and your parents did not give it to you. Think that over."
about the end but a hint about
beginning When the Buddha
had sat alone
for nearly forever
beneath the tree of many names
when he had taken into himself
all the suffering there is
and will always be then
he did not despair
he turned away
from the empty air
that starving saints exhale
he laughed at the idea
of nothing
What he saw clear and unmistakable
before him and really on all sides
was a lake and the lake shone
and there was light in it
and he knew that to hold
all that water in his gaze
would mislead him
about his own
size unless he entered the water
and bathed
for there is no enlightenment
without immersion
And so after so long the Buddha
entered enlightenment
which is not the end
but the end of being alone
and the Buddha whom the world
had thought sufficient
unto himself was not
for that was what
enlightenment taught
And at the end of
so long alone
the Buddha slowly turned
toward all the others
who were also alone
and she opened her arms
and around them all the water
stretched and shone
Eleanor Wilner
We are tasting the taste this minuteof eternity. We are pain
and what cures pain, both.
We are the sweet cold water and the jar that pours.
Rumi
