Thought I share this article in conjunction with the coming
Vesak Day on 31st May 2007. I love reading Buddhist spiritual text
because it has come to my realization that we are also a Mind or
Consciousness in the human physical body.
Hope you will enjoy reading it for it make sense to me that we
have to let go of something to gain something else….whether it is
good or bad….it is your own choice and action.
The text below was extracted from the book “A Path With Heart”,
written by Jack Kornfield. I discovered this book in April 2004 at
the library and I found it very loving and compassionate. Thanks
Jack. You are a good writer.
Joe (Zulkifli Mahmood)
p.s. I’m a mix blood. My late mother, Hajjah Salmah Bte Eusope
was a Chinese. During Japanese Occupation of Singapore in
WW2, she was given away to a childless
Javanese couple for safety reasons. My late father, Haji Mahmood
Bin Hussein, was a Malay.
“An old Chinese Zen monk who, after many years of peaceful
meditation, realized he was not really enlightened. He went to the
master and said, “Please, may I go find a hut at the top of the
mountain and stay there until I finish this practice?” The master,
knowing he was ripe, gave his permission. On the way up the
mountain the monk met an old man walking down, carrying a big
bundle. The old man asked, “Where are you going, monk?” The monk
answered, “I’m going to the top of the mountain to sit and either
get enlightened or die.” Since the old man looked very wise, the
monk was moved to ask him, “Say, old man, do you know anything of
this enlightenment?” The old man, who was really the Bodhisattva
Manjusri – said to appear to people when they are ready for
enlightenment – let go of his bundle, and it dropped to the ground.
As in all good Zen stories, in that moment the monk was
enlightened. “You mean it is that simple; just to let go and not
grasp anything!” Then the newly enlightened monk looked back at the
old man and asked, “So now what?” In answer, the old man reached
down and picked up the bundle again and walked off toward
town.”
This story shows both sides of spiritual practice. It teaches us
to let go, to relinquish our grasping and identification with all
things, and reminds us that we just rent this house for a while.
Once we have realized that, it teaches us, we must reenter the
world with a caring heart. We must pick up our bundle and carry it
back into the realm of human life.