Leaving Home

All quotes from The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu by James Green

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197

A monk asked, "What is 'leaving home'?"

The master said, "Not aspiring to acclaim, not seeking after defilements."

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204

A monk asked, "It is not yet clear to me, what about it when someone vows to leave home and search for Supreme Wisdom?"

The master said, "If you have not left home, wisdom uses you; after leaving home you can use wisdom."

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223

A monk asked, "What is a child that leaves home?"

The master said, "He does not salute the emperor but, on the contrary, bows to his parents."

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233

A monk asked, "What is 'leaving home'?"

The master said, "How have you managed to meet me?"

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392

A monk asked, "Does a man who has left home become a householder or not?"

The master said, "To 'leave home' is to be a monk; but I don't pay attention to either 'leaving home' or 'not leaving home'."

The monk said, "Why don't you pay attention?"

The master said, "To do so is to leave home."

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525 excerpt

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Sun level with the ground. The second hour of the day.

A broken-down temple in a desserted village - there's nothing

worth saying about it.

In the morning gruel there's not a grain of rice,

Idly facing the open window and its dirty cracks.

Only the sparrow chattering, no one to be friends with,

Who said that to leave home is to cut off likes and dislikes?

If I think about it, before I know it there are tears moistening

my hanky.

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What is it to leave home? It is literally to become a monk. To leave home. But what is it metaphorically? It's not to cut off likes and dislikes?! It's not seeking, but it's meeting. What can you tell me about leaving home?

Submitted January 30, 2019 at 07:56AM by Pistaf http://bit.ly/2G6EO8l