Someone asked Bokuju:
- What are you doing? What is your religious discipline?
He replied:
- I live an ordinary life - this is my discipline. When I feel hungry, I eat. When I feel like I want to sleep, I sleep.
The questioner was puzzled. He said:
“But I don’t see anything special in this.”
Bokuju said:
- That's the whole point. There's nothing special. Everyone who craves something special is selfish.
The questioner was still puzzled. He said:
“But everyone does this: when they are hungry, they eat; when they want to sleep, they sleep.
Bokuju laughed and said:
- No. When you eat, you do a thousand and one things: you think, you dream, you imagine, you remember. You don't just eat. When I eat, I simply eat: then there is only food and nothing else. When you sleep, you dream, you fight, you have nightmares. When I sleep, I just sleep, nothing else exists. When there is a dream, there is only a dream. Not even Bokuju. When I walk, there is only a walk, there is no Bokuju: just a walk.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru