Volume 1, Track 6
Zen masters use ordinary, everyday incidents as opportunities to teach, and it is usually difficult to realize they are teaching. One time, when my Zen teacher was in America, I took my friend Dick and his wife to see the Roshi. Dick was very steeped in Indian teaching, full of the holy and the unholy, and that is quite different from the Zen way.
When we arrived at the small Zendo, the Roshi graciously invited us into the kitchen to have some tea with him. Zen teachers do not wear lays around their neck and carry themselves in a self-important manner. The teacher’s apt to be sweeping the sidewalk when one arrives. For about an hour and a half, we sat in the kitchen eating cookies and sipping tea. I could tell that Dick and his wife were enjoying themselves and feeling right at home with their enlightened host.
Just before leaving, Dick thanked Roshi and told him how impressed he was with Roshi’s manner. In an impetuous moment, he turned to the master and said, “I want you to teach me.” Roshi was astonished. “What do you think I’ve been doing for the last hour and a half,” was his comment.
Once, when a well-known Zen teacher was in Los Angeles, two people I knew, one a very successful trial lawyer and the other, a metaphysically inclined woman from the Baltic states in Europe, asked me if I could arrange an interview with him. This was not hard to do, and on a very warm September day, the three of us went to see the Roshi.
It was so warm that the lawyer was wearing only a t-shirt. As we entered the room before I could even introduce the two, the Roshi spoke: “Take off your overcoat,” he told the lawyer. The latter was completely mystified.
“Remove your hat and gloves,” roared the master. “If we don’t strip down naked, how can we meet?” Again, the lawyer did not comprehend. Of course, the Roshi was saying that the visitor was completely weighed down by his own opinions. He was not open to learning from the master; he wanted only to have his own ideas confirmed.
Roshi often told me that the ignorant man is the easiest to teach, that the one who has read a good deal is stifled by his own opinions. Only an empty cup can be poured into.
A little while later in the meeting, the European lady asked: “Roshi, why are there English, French and German? Why are there different nationalities, and why are there wars?” The Roshi held up his open hand, “Why do I have five fingers?” He asked an answer to the concerned woman. I walked over to the master and counted his fingers. Yes, he has five fingers. I confirmed. When the interview was finished, the man, woman, and I left together. “Why didn’t the master answer my question,” she asked. “He did,” I replied. “He gave you the only possible answer.”
To listen to Justin reading Spiritual Stories of the East, click here.