Having become enlightened, the sixth Zen patriarch Jeno received from the fifth patriarch a cup and clothes, which were passed down from the Buddha by his successors from generation to generation. A monk named Eme, out of envy, followed the patriarch to take this great treasure from him. Jeno put the cup and clothes on a roadside stone and said to Ema:
- These items are just a symbol of faith. There's no point in fighting over them. If you want to own them so much, you can take them.
When Eme tried to take the clothes and cup, they turned out to be prohibitively heavy. Trembling with shame, he said:
“I came for learning, not for material treasures.” Please teach me.
The Patriarch said:
“When you don’t think about good and don’t think about bad, what is your true nature?”
At these words, Eme began to see clearly.
Someone asked Master Suzuki about his Master Jeno:
-What was special about him?
Suzuki replied:
“The only thing that I will never forget is that I have never met a person who thought of himself as a completely ordinary person.” He was a simple, ordinary man, and that is the most extraordinary thing, because every ordinary mind thinks that he is extraordinary.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru