The Wisdom of Zen Buddhism

I have been studying Buddhism for about thirty or so years. In those years I have collected, on paper (now computer) and in my mind, what I believe is great wisdom. On Facebook, I subscribe to something entitled Zen of the Day. I have found in these daily sentences very little that I would add to my collection of Zen wisdom.

Today, after reading the Zen of the Day, I decided to share just a bit of my collection.

Buddha said: "I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes. I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot. I perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusion of magicians. I discern the highest conception of emancipation as a golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the illuminated ones as flowers appearing in one's eyes. I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of daytime. I look upon the judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by the four seasons."

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

Buddha told a parable in sutra:

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!  

Twenty monks and one nun, who was named Eshun, were practicing meditation with a certain Zen master.

Eshun was very pretty even though her head was shaved and her dress plain. Several monks secretly fell in love with her. One of them wrote her a love letter, insisting upon a private meeting.

Eshun did not reply. The following day the master gave a lecture to the group, and when it was over, Eshun arose. Addressing the one who had written to her, she said: "If you really love me so much, come and embrace me now."

Gudo was the emperor's teacher of his time. Nevertheless, he used to travel alone as a wandering mendicant. Once when he was on his way to Edo, the cultural and political center of the shogunate, he approached a little village named Takenaka. It was evening and a heavy rain was falling. Gudo was thoroughly wet. His straw sandals were in pieces. At a farmhouse near the village he noticed four or five pairs of sandals in the window and decided to buy some dry ones.

The woman who offered him the sandals, seeing how wet he was, invited him in to remain for the night in her home. Gudo accepted, thanking her. He entered and recited a sutra before the family shrine. He was then introduced to the women's mother, and to her children. Observing that the entire family was depressed, Gudo asked what was wrong.

"My husband is a gambler and a drunkard," the housewife told him. "When he happens to win he drinks and becomes abusive. When he loses he borrows money from others. Sometimes when he becomes thoroughly drunk he does not come home at all. What can I do?"

"I will help him," said Gudo. "Here is some money. Get me a gallon of fine wine and something good to eat. Then you may retire. I will meditate before the shrine."

When the man of the house returned about midnight, quite drunk, he bellowed: "Hey, wife, I am home. Have you something for me to eat?"

"I have something for you," said Gudo. "I happened to be caught in the rain and your wife kindly asked me to remain here for the night. In return I have bought some wine and fish, so you might as well have them."

The man was delighted. He drank the wine at once and laid himself down on the floor. Gudo sat in meditation beside him.

In the morning when the husband awoke he had forgotten about the previous night. "Who are you? Where do you come from?" he asked Gudo, who was still meditating.

"I am Gudo of Kyoto and I am going on to Edo," replied the Zen master.

The man was utterly ashamed. He apologized profusely to the teacher of his emperor.

Gudo smiled. "Everything in this life is impermanent," he explained. "Life is very brief. If you keep on gambling and drinking, you will have no time left to accomplish anything else, and you will cause your family to suffer too."

The perception of the husband awoke as if from a dream. "You are right," he declared. "How can I ever repay you for this wonderful teaching! Let me see you off and carry your things a little way."

"If you wish," assented Gudo.

The two started out. After they had gone three miles Gudo told him to return. "Just another five miles," he begged Gudo. They continued on.

"You may return now," suggested Gudo.

"After another ten miles," the man replied.

"Return now," said Gudo, when the ten miles had been passed.

"I am going to follow you all the rest of my life," declared the man.

Modern Zen teachings in Japan spring from the lineage of a famous master who was the successor of Gudo. His name was Mu-nan, the man who never turned back.

Below are a few of the books on Buddhism that I have (or have had) in my library. Well, these are a few that are still in print. Some of these books can be obtained in digital form for little or no cost.

Gettysburg After Pickett's Charge: July 3 & 4

Rothermel's December, 1870, painting: Battle of Gettysburg: Pickett's Charge
[State Museum of Pennsylvania]

Again I read from from Michael Shaara's historical novel of the battle of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels.

On the night of July 3^rd Lee’s staff and generals began planning the movement from Gettysburg. Early on the morning of July 4^th, the Army of Northern Virginia began the retrograde movement that would take it out of Pennsylvania to across the Potomac River and Virginia. 

Retreat from Gettysburg

Wagons carrying supplies and wounded about 8,000 Confederate soldiers extending over 15 miles went first. The worst of the Confederate wounded, perhaps 7,000 men, were left at the battlefield to be treated by Union medical staff. It took until July 14^th for the Confederates to evacuate Pennsylvania.

Confederate retreat from Gettysburg

The two armies suffered between 46,000 and 51,000 combined casualties. There are over 3,500 Union soldiers who died during the battle buried in the Gettysburg National Cemetery within the Gettysburg National Military Park.  Between 1871 and 1873 the Confederate dead were removed to cemeteries in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia. Most of the Confederate dead are interred at HollywoodCemetery in Richmond,Virginia, in a section set aside specifically for the casualties of Gettysburg.

Gettysburg National Cemetery

Gettysburg: Day 3

Pickett's Charge, July 3, 1863

Gen. James Longstreet

After attacking both left and right flanks of the Union line on July 2nd, General Lee decided to make a massive assault on the center on July 3rd  with the division of George Pickett and brigades from A.P. Hill's corps. Pickett's division was part of the corps of Lee's his principal subordinate, General James Longstreet's First Corps.

Longstreet vehemently opposed Lee's plan and attempted to dissuade him from ordering the attack. He noted that the Confederates would have to cover almost a mile of open ground, negotiating several sturdy fences while under constant Union artillery and infantry fire. Rather, Longstreet proposed an attack circling behind the Union positions. According to Jeffry Wert's 1993 biography, Longstreet said to Lee:

General, I have been a soldier all my life. I have been with soldiers engaged in fights by couples, by squads, companies, regiments, divisions, and armies, and should know, as well as any one, what soldiers can do. It is my opinion that no fifteen thousand men ever arranged for battle can take that position.   

Lee would not change his mind, so after an artillery barrage/duel that has been described as "the most massive on the North American continent," Pickett's division with the attached brigades from A.P. Hill's corps, set off across the mile of open land toward the entrenched Union army.

Some of the Confederate soldiers reached the Union artillery,  but were quickly killed, captured, or driven back. This point on the battlefield has come to be known as the High-water mark of the Confederacy.

More than 50% of the Confederates who made Pickett's charge were killed, wounded, or captured. General Longstreet attempted to bring artillery to support his retreating troops; General Lee rode on his horse, Traveler, out into the field to meet the men staggering back to the Confederate lines. The are the most poignant scene in the 1993 film, Gettysburg.

Gen. George Pickett

As I wrote in the first of the three posts commemorating the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg,it was as I stood at the “High Water Mark of the Confederacy” on the Gettysburg battlefield almost 50 years ago  looking across huge field that Confederate General Pickett’s charged, directly into the guns of the Union army, that my interest in the place and battle was formed. Several years later it was in part the memory of that moment that encouraged me to become a peacemaker. 

The High Water Mark of the Confederacy

There is, of course, more to the story of Gettysburg which I shall address tomorrow.

The videos in this post come from the superb 1993 film, Gettysburg, which was based upon he most moving and remarkable book about Gettysburg that I have ever read, Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War (Modern Library).

If anything I have presented in the three posts commemorating the battle of Gettysburg has peeked you interest, you may wish to explore:

If you have enjoyed Nick's Bytes, would you consider a small donation to supplement my retirement income?

Gettysburg: Day 2

The 20th Maine charges down Little Round Top to route attacking Confederate forces

July 2, 1863: the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg finds the Union army commanded by General Meade entrenched on a fishhook line of hills south of town with about 90,000 soldiers. The Confederate army of General Robert Edward Lee was wrapped around the Union position with about 70,000 soldiers. 

On the afternoon of July 2 Lee assaulted the Union left flank at Devil's Den, Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, the Peach Orchard and Cemetery Ridge. Heavy fighting continued well into the night. A decisive role in the battle was played by the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, then commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, in the defense of the hill known as Little Round Top. Chamberlain is a major character in Michael Shaara's book, The Killer Angels, the most moving and remarkable book about the Battle of Gettysburg that I have read to date. 

After several hours of Confederate attacks up Little Round Top, the 20th Maine's position, the regiment has lost a third of its men and used up almost all of its ammunition:

The bayonet charge of the 20th Maine as depicted in the film Gettysburg:

J.E.B. Stuart's three cavalry brigades, after being separated from the main army for several days, arrived in Gettysburg around noon on July 2nd and was not engaged in the battle. In the wee hours of July 3rd, General Lee met with General Jackson:

By the end of the second day, the Union forces were well entrenched on the high ground. The attacks on the left and right flanks of the Union line by the Army of Northern Virginia had not dislodged any part of Meade's army.

On third day, General Lee makes a strategic error that cost many Confederate lives, as the attack of General Pickett reaches " the high mark of the Confederacy."

That's a story for tomorrow.

If you have not, you may want to read my post, Gettysburg: Day 1

I have based these posts, in part, on:

Please

Gettysburg: Day 1

Buford

Lee

On the First day of July, 1863, elements of Gen. Robert Edward Lee’s Confederate Army of NorthernVirginia came into contact with Kentucky born Brigadier General John Buford’s United States First Cavalry northwest of the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. As the skirmishing began, Buford realized that he was facing a much larger force of Confederates than his own unit and sent a messenger requesting reinforcements. Aware of the importance of holding the tactically important high ground around Gettysburg, Buford set up his defensive position on the hills surrounding the town, setting the stage for perhaps “one of the most iconic battles in American military history.” That initial encounter that began the Battle of Gettysburg took place 150 years ago.

I have had a deep interest in the Battle of Gettysburg ever since I first visited the battlefield almost 50 years ago, during a break from summer ROTC camp training at Indiantown gap, Pennsylvania. Since that day when I walked about the battlefield and stood at the “High Water Mark ofthe Confederacy” looking across huge field that Confederate General Pickett’s charged, directly into the

guns of the Union army, I have had a deep curiosity in the battle.

Chamberlain

I have read many books about the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg, specifically. Perhaps the most moving and remarkable book is Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War (Modern Library) . The title is taken from a conversation between Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, commanding the Union’s 20 Maine Regiment, and Sergeant Buster Kilrain, the primary fictional character in the book:

Chamberlain: [quoting Hamlet] “What a piece of work is man, in form and movement how express and admirable. In action how like an angel”. 
Sergeant Kilrain: Well, if he's an angel, all right then. But he damn well must be a killer angel. 

The Killer Angels was the basis for the superb 1993 film, Gettysburg, that I once watched each July until my DVDs disappeared during my move to this apartment.

The June 30^th confrontation between Buford’s cavalry, reinforced by Union 1st and 11th Corps of infantry, and the Confederate corps of generals A.P. Hill and Richard Ewell ended with the Confederates pushing the Union out of the town of Gettysburg. However, the Union set up a defensive line on a fishhook-shaped range of hills and ridges south of Gettysburg—the high ground—setting the stage for the second day of battle, about which I shall comment on Tuesday, July 2^nd.

You may want to explore:

Please

Today (now yesterday)

I created this post at intervals throughout the day.

I sit here shirtless as I write this post. It’s almost 96° outside and over 80° inside. This morning I got quite ill from the heat. More about that later in this post.

Today is the 12^th day of June—a day that for three fourths of my life has been a high point of every year. It was on this date in 1971 that my oldest son, Nicholas Lawrence Temple III, was born in Würtzburg, Germany.

Marienburg fortress/castle, Wurtzberg, Germany with Main River in foreground

It was on this date in 1975 that my youngest son, Robert Lawrence Temple II, was born in Louisville, Kentucky.

Louisville night skyline from the Indiana shore of the Ohio River

I still celebrate this day, in a way, although not with the grandness that I once did, since now I am estranged—not by my desire—from both of my sons. Yesterday I created these graphic images that I posted on Facebook to celebrate Nick and Rob’s birthday:

I don’t expect a response.

Recently I have been reading books written by two giants of train-of-thought literature, HenryMiller and Jack Kerouac. I wonder if reading their words has in any way influenced my own writing—probably not since I am so attuned to punctuation that I have don’t think I could create a run on sentence even if I tried. I have discovered that there is quite a similarity between their styles perhaps because both Miller’s Tropic of Capricorn and Kerouac’s road novels are autobiographical nature, something I hope to address in a future blog post.

This morning things began extremely well. I awakened at my normal 3 AM and decided to get some chores done. Part of that was to drive all of the garbage down to the dempsty dumpster so that I could dispose of it before it got too hot. It really didn’t work out very well because it was already 2 o’clock when I started out. By the time I was at the dumpster and throwing the garbage bags into it the heat had me nauseated and gasping for breath. I ended up vomiting on myself on one of the new shirts that my mother sent me as a Father’s Day present since we both realize I shall receive no acknowledgment of Father’s Day from my sons.

One of the 4 shirts Mom sent me for Father's Day

At the moment any writing is difficult for me with this cat not only in my face but also trying to lick clean.  Little girl has been quite demanding recently—no matter where I am seems that she wants to be also. Maybe that has something to do with my discovering that her belly is quite hard and her nipples swollen so maybe the Kitty Kids population may explode soon!

I hope that you all had a good June 12 –i.e., yesterday.