The Bowl (Buoi)

[SPJ]

The Buddhist monks use Buoi (begging bowl or cup) (Bachi in Japanese, patram in Sankrit) to collect donations.

Monk A and B were told by the old priest to go and collect some donation for the day. It is also called neutralization of Yuan (Hua Yuan).

Monk A returned shortly with enough collection for the day. That is enough for food, vegetable etc.

Monk B took longer time but came back with a lot of funds.

The old priest praised A and discredited B.

[SPJ]

They both were confused.

The old priest then said that there was a farmer that attended his rice paddie and garden everyday.

He would weed and water.

One day he thought that perhaps he pulled the stalks or stems higher then the rice and vegetables may grow faster.

The second day they seemed to be taller.

He did the second pulling, the third and the fourth.

He returned on the fifth day and saw all the plants were dead.

[SPJ]

The significance or Chan of the story is that do things that are necessary for the time and nothing more.

In the face of nature disaster of bibilical proportions;

People will seek the meanings of all this in their faiths.

We may offer our hands to help.

However, let them find the consolations, comfort and answers from their faiths, from themselves and for themselves.

[SPJ]

The collection bowls were used to mean many things in life.

What is it in your collection bowl?

When you give, you shall receive. (Christian)

Any stories or comments?


:D

[SPJ]

The bowl or rice bowl is used to mean salary or a position/job that generates income.

If you work for the government or have a steady job, it is said that you have an iron bowl. (Te Fan Wan) It will not be lost or broken easily.

If you hold a position in government or military, it is said that you have a hat. (Mou Zi) You are an official or serviceman.

If you lose your hat, that means you lose your rank or position.

There are Dao's and bibles (Jing) for how to keep your job/bowl or hat.

There are tons of writings, sayings, fables, why and how.

:D

[SPJ]

There is a very popular story.

There is a monk. He would go to the river and fetch the water for drinking.

There are 2 monks. They would carry a bamboo trunk with the wooden bucket to fetch the water.

There are 3 monks and yet there is no water to drink.

Why?

Because it takes only 2 people to carry the bamboo trunk or Zhu Dang Zi.

And every one wants to be the third person not to go.

:D

[fa_jing]

I dig it.

[SPJ]

Cool.

:D

[David Jamieson]

The most useful part of a bowl is it's emptiness.

contemplate grasshoppers.

[WanderingMonk]

Originally posted by SPJ
Monk A and B were told by the old priest to go and collect some donation for the day. It is also called neutralization of Yuan (Hua Yuan).


technically, it is translated as neutralization. but, if it is truly neturalization, does it mean, after the monk received the offering, the "yuan" (affinity) between the monk and the sameritan ends. if that's the case, then it is neturalization. the monk goes out to severe his affinity with the world. so, everytime, someone give an offering, another tie is severe. at some point, the monk will break all of his ties with the world, and he can go on the next world?

or does it mean the monk is establishing ties? a sameritan has made an offering, and hence the monk is in debt to the sameritan. therefore, some of the monk's merit goes to the samiertan. or the monk will come back to help the sameritan when the sameritan is in trouble. or the monk is waiting to help the sameritan but first the sameritan must establish an affinity. for not even the buddha can help someone who does not have "yuan fen" (affinity) with buddhist teaching.

neutralization, might not be the appropriate word to use.
materialization? equal exchange?

[David Jamieson]

ask for nothing.
expect nothing.

hold the bowl.
that is all.

[WanderingMonk]

Originally posted by Kung Lek
The most useful part of a bowl is it's emptiness.

contemplate grasshoppers.

but, master, if it is empty, what good is it?
to consume? so consumption is good? if it is empty, so it must be filled. so it need to continue to consume? I am so confuse.

[David Jamieson]

first, don't call me master.

second, without the emptiness, the bowl is no longer a bowl.

[WanderingMonk]

Originally posted by Kung Lek
ask for nothing.
expect nothing.

hold the bowl.
that is all.

should I be a stone? If I ask for nothing, and expect nothing, what am I to do?

I am just a rock that hold the bowl?

why ask for nothing? why expect nothing? so, I can be a stone?

[David Jamieson]

ask for nothing, because you ahve your breath.

expect nothing because this too shall pass.

you are not stone, nor are you a rock, you are flesh and blood like the rest of us. :p

[ZIM]

This ones for u, SPJ (http://www.zenmovie.com/index.html)

Watch the trailer...!

[WanderingMonk]

Originally posted by Kung Lek
ask for nothing, because you ahve your breath.

expect nothing because this too shall pass.

you are not stone, nor are you a rock, you are flesh and blood like the rest of us. :p

but, you are asking flesh and blood to behave like rock. there has to be a comparative advantage.
ask for nothing, because you have your breath. so does the rock. there's little air molecules trapped on its surface by van der wal froces.
expect nothing because this too shall pass, so does the rock. someone might take a hammer to it.

come on, what is the advantage of this "composure"?

ask for nothing, expecting nothing, how does this helps? does it solve worldy problems? I got some bills to pay. does it help me out? because if I can't pay, I might not have my breath.

where's the gain? what do you gain? if you don't gain? do you lose? if you don't gain or don't lose, are you breaking even? if you only break even, why even bother? or do you find something that you don't know you have to begain with?

a man was presented with a choice between a fish and bear paw. He choose the bear paw because it was worth more, hence he like it more. (comparative advantage)

the same man was given a choice between life and death. he choose life because he desire it more than death. (comparative advantage)

but, there are thing this man desire more than life. when forced to choose between to lose those thing which he desire more than life and death, the man choose death (potentially good trait). comparative advantage.

then, there are those who desire life more than anything else, and when given a choice in every case, they choose life. (likely a bad trait) comparative advantage.

so, to understand the value of something, we usually make a comparsion. so, what's the comparative advantage of the "emptiness"?

[David Jamieson]

the more you look, the more impossible it becomes to find.

:p

stop looking. It's right there.

[WanderingMonk]

Originally posted by Kung Lek
the more you look, the more impossible it becomes to find.

:p

stop looking. It's right there.

ok, I will stop playing. it might be right there. but, what my teacher see, and what I see, and what someone else see might be totally different. they might be all right. or may be only one is right.

it is easy to say the word, emptiness. understanding it, being able to apply, and mastering it are totally different games.

everyone need a push, every once in a while. :)

[David Jamieson]

no one is right...and everyone is right. right and wrong are moral distinctions and have little to do with reality.

Time, past, present and future are illusion, they do not exist in reality. Time is an equation that is brought into play for us to understand our existance on a level that won't drive us to madness.

If a person has severe reaction to the sun, they do ask "why me" when it burns their face.

If a person likes the feel of rain on their face, they do not question it in a bad light, they enjoy the water.

Everything is good and everything is bad. So long as we examine our universe from a dualistic point of view, this is how we will percieve things. It cannot be escaped except through death or nihilism.

[SPJ]

Zim;

Thanks for the link.

For people that are interested in the first 2 posts.

The significance is very straightforward.

If you over fish in the pond, there will be no more fishes left to reproduce. Very soon, there will be no fish in the pond. If you only fish some or enough, there will be more fishes tommorrow.

If you over collect the tax or donations, you may not collect any more tommorrow. So do not overtax or overcollect from your people, so that they may have enough for themselves and donate more in another day.

Do not let the sheeps or horses overgraze the grass. There will be no more grass next time around.

The planet earth has enough resources for everyone. Please do not over exploit our nature resources, so that there will more for us and our posterities later.

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And so on and so forth.