One day the king came to visit Zen Master Muhak at the Hoeryong temple. The king dismissed all his attendants and said to Muhak, "Due to my preoccupations with the affairs of the state, I cannot even laugh as I please. Today we shall have a private conversation where you and I can dispense with all formalities and talk to each other freely. Just enjoy each other's company."
Muhak said, "You had first better break the ice by making a joke, Your Highness." The king said, "O.K. Muhak, you look like a hungry pig looking for dung." Muhak bowed to him and said, "Your Highness looks like a Shakyamuni Buddha on the vulture peak."
The king was dissatisfied with such an answer and said, "While I compared you to a pig, why do you compare me to the Buddha?" Muhak replied, "It is because a pig can only see a pig and a Buddha only sees Buddha." The king burst into laughter. Then he said, "You are smarter than I am by one degree. But your reply is a kind of Zen teaching and not a joke!"
Zen Master Muhak [1317-1405], in Thousand Peaks
WanderingRonin77 commentary: Presented in the record of this meeting between a Zen Master and a king is a very crucial lesson, one which I have seen over time when dealing with this community. The are a few here who have been highly supportive of my endeavors over time, and there are a few who have found me to be entirely disagreeable with how they believe I should think and act. It is quite telling to me that the wisest and most benevolent among you see me as someone to support and teach, while the base and coarse among you see me as an object of scorn and derision. To this I must laugh heartily; to be able to see why people conduct themselves in the ways that they do towards me is a great treasure indeed. I appreciate you one and all.
Submitted February 15, 2018 at 01:26AM by WanderingRonin77 http://ift.tt/2EEscF0
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