*** This is a nice Buddhist Holiday message from another Buddhist-oriented
forum I frequent ***
Season's Greetings!
Every year, each one of us may ponder whether or not or how much to participate
in the winter holiday spirit and whether to even engage in the customary "Merry
Christmas" cheer. This season brings to mind that there are significant
elements
we all share regardless of varying beliefs, preferences, cultures and
traditions.
There is a Buddhist holiday on the 8th of December, known as Bodhi Day, which
commemorates Bodhi [pronounced: bohdee]) by Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni,
commonly called "the Buddha", the enlightened one. It is the day when the
Buddha
is said to have attained enlightenment (Bodhi). Candles are lit and special
celebrations take place in temples and homes around the globe.
Anyone walking about Chinatown in urban America will observe statues of a
smily, stout fellow carrying a sack over his shoulder. Chinese merchants call
him
Happy Chinaman or Laughing Buddha. This Hotai lived during the T'ang dynasty.
He had no desire to call himself a teacher or to gather many disciples around
him.
Instead he walked the streets with a big sack into which he put gifts of candy,
fruit
and other goods. He gave these to children on the streets who gathered around
him in play. Once he was about his business when a Zen master happened along
and inquired, "What is the significance of Zen?" Hotei immediately plopped his
sack down on the ground in silent answer. "Then," asked the other, "What is the
actualization of Zen?" At once our Happy Chinaman swung the sack over his
shoulder and continued on his way. This Koan demonstrates exactly what our
Hotai was all about.
Another Koan is about a university student who was visiting the Zen master
Gasan. He asked him: "Have you ever read the Christian Bible?" "No, read it
to
me," said Gasan. The student opened the book and read from the gospel of
Matthew: "And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the
field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that
even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these ... Take therefore
no
thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself."
Gasan said: "Whoever uttered those words I consider an enlightened man." The
student continued reading: "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall
find,
knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and
he
that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened." Gasan
remarked: "That is excellent. Whoever said that is not far from Buddhahood."
Both the birth of an enlightened man as well as the turn in Gautama
Siddhartha's
life and its various seasonal expressions highlight the human need for
liberation
from bondage, illusion and separation the dualistic mindset in which we often
find ourselves entangled. It is a reminder to look beyond our individual ego by
realizing that we all are part of a larger, transcendent inter-being. We come
to
nourish our innate nature of compassion for those less fortunate, those who are
suffering, those who are suppressed, disadvantaged and rejected. To whatever
religious tradition we are accustomed or whichever spiritual path we follow, we
all share this oneness the deeper reason for the season.
Happy Bodhi Day! Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!
May all beings be happy!
Fajian
------------------------------------
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