Lianshi of Hongzhou (a public official) asked, "Should I partake of wine and meat, or is it better to abstain?"
Mazu said, "To partake is your present happiness, to abstain is your future blessing."
Question: What do you think Mazu means by this?
Thoughts: "To abstain.." sounds like "If you are concerned about what people might think about you in the future, you might be better off walking the straight and narrow path of Buddhism now - that way in the future people can't point out your corruption. They will say "That Lianshi - an upstanding man!"
But Lianshi is a not a monk. He travels from place to place. He doesn't have to uphold all of the precepts so rigidly. He could be denying himself pleasures that he really doesn't need to be denying himself.
I think some people might interpret this as saying "Oh - look at this Zen Master, he is prohibiting meat and alcohol, he wants people to keep the teachings of the Buddha in mind."
But other people might say "Oh - this Master is just saying that people can do what they like. They'll just need to be aware of what they're doing and of any possible benefits or consequences, as long as they're asking these kinds of questions about it.
Submitted July 09, 2017 at 10:31AM by Archaeoculus http://ift.tt/2uE7bCz
No comments:
Post a Comment