Thursday, September 30, 2010

Zen Jesuit On Pagan Buddhist Spiritual Master Bodhidharma

So I looked over the group walking. In the official zen world a priest would have a robe. No, none had a robe, even the priest ( Fr. Robert Edward Kennedy, S.J ) who ran the zendo. But everyone was in black, even yours truly. Everyone, that is, except a tall gray-haired man with kaki pants (w/rolled up cuffs) and a patterned shirt. Clearly this would not be Kennedy Roshi. He should have a robe and a collar and maybe a patch over one eye... not kaki pants and a patterned shirt. So, you guessed it... it was him, in all his splendor.
Bodhidharma
I'm now listening to some of his talks on CDs that I purchased. He told an interesting story about (here)  Bodhidharma, who supposedly said that if a monk only studied and copied the teachings then he could be killed because there was no need for him. We need people with insight. Yea... not to the killing, but with that the point of view.
Link (here) to read the full blog post, at the blog entitled Diaristic Notations

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