Ping-ting comes for fire
Fa-yen asked the monk Hsüan-tzu why he had never asked him any questions about Zen. The monk explained that he had already attained his understanding from another master. Pressed by Fa-yen for an explanation, the monk said that when he had asked his teacher, “What is the meaning of Buddhism?” he had received the answer, “Ping-ting comes for fire!”
"A good answer!" said Fa-yen. "But I’m sure you don’t understand it."
"Ping-ting," explained the monk, "is the god of fire. For him to be seeking for fire is like myself, seeking the Buddha. I’m the Buddha already, and no asking is needed."
"Just as I thought!" laughed Fa-yen. "You didn’t get it."
The monk said, “Well, how would you answer?”
"Go ahead, ask me." said Fa-yen.
"What is the meaning of Buddhism?" inquired the monk.
"Ping-ting comes for fire!"
My comments: i can't ride with this one, im not sure I understand all the context. It makes me contemplate self arising, original mind, non attachment to knowing answers.
What do you think?
Submitted May 10, 2019 at 11:01PM by 1stcoastfl http://bit.ly/2VbnrXP
Sorry I'm late ton this party! I may help.
ReplyDeleteSo this narrative is more on Zen/Buddhism then it is about the monks or ping ting. When the monk is asked why? He goes into analysis explaining well, ping ting is the god of fire so he seeks it, just like im a Buddhist monk so there is no doubt I embody Buddhism. Of course the other monk dismissed this as understanding Buddhism.
My understanding of this story is trying to encapsulate Buddhism. Ping ting comes for fire because, he just does. It's a spontaneous occurrence. The idea here atleast in reference to Zen is that the fundamental teaching is "no mind" meaning not to analyse why. For example if I were to ask, how did god creat the mountains a zen teaching would say he just does lol. Now for many this is not satisfactory because we always want to know why right down to the last detail but this creates a reaction that can infact seperate us from the physical thing. I may ask, what is the fundamental teaching of Buddhism? And you may say, the wind blows. This shows your connection to being in the moment and feeling the wind blowing, you're not trying to analyse the wind. Another story is of a monk who asks "guru my mind is troubled, please pacify my mind" the guru says "Ok bring fourth your mind physically" the monk replies "well, when I look for it it's not there" the guru finishes "there, your mind is pacified"
This idea comes from reducing analysis so we can be more present in the moment then stuck in our minds (analysis).
So I ask you now, what is the fundamental teaching of Buddhism?
Also have a listen to this! My intention of sharing is for your enjoyment and I hope you do! Has afew zen stories half way through for relevance 👍
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/tx6b4E9cZIU