By Cathy
Fred and I started meditating here pretty recently. I have appreciated and learned from the sharing by many of you. Some of the shares have really resonated, and remind me to find my center, practice compassion, and develop clarity about the truly important things in life.
Last month, Chloe talked about her learning from reading the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (惠能). Her talk struck me deeply, so I chased her down for her original Chinese text. From there, I did some online research.
The story goes that there was a poem contest among the followers of the 5th Patriarch, the winner of which would be named his successor. The poems were to demonstrate the stage of his followers’ understanding of the essence of the mind. Shenxiu (神秀), the leading disciple, wrote his poem anonymously on the South Wall of the monastery. It read as follows (I chose the translation that was easiest for me to understand):
“The body is the Bodhi, the tree of enlightenment,
The mind is like a bright mirror’s stand;
At all times we must strive to polish it,
So that no dust can collect.”
The woodchopper at the monastery, who was illiterate, heard others discussing this poem and asked someone to read it to him. He later asked another to write his response to this poem, on the same wall below the original. This response won him the post of the 6th Patriarch; it has become among the most famous sayings in Buddhism:
“Bodhi is no tree.
The mirror has no stand.
Enlightenment has no form,
Whereon would dust alight?”
From reading this poem, Chloe realized that we are All already whole and have the seeds of awakening inside us. The mirror needs no polishing; we need simply find clarity and kindness from within.
A few days later, I was in a coaching session with an executive who, despite his many achievements, has continually sought to polish his mirror: seeking to improve his executive presence, developing various frameworks for projects he was going to undertake. We’ve been having these sessions for over 3 years. I started that day’s session by reading him Chloe’s notes.
I wish I could share with you the smile and look of wonder on this guy’s face as he heard the message.
In the year 2000, the movie “Pay It Forward” was released. It told a story about an 11-year-old boy who developed a “Pay It Forward” project for his Social Studies class. Rather than repaying a favor, the idea was that one pays it forward with acts of kindness to three other people. The resulting chain reaction would make the world a better place.
The movie – and the book it was based on – started a global movement of random acts of kindness that has persisted to this day, a quarter century later.
It struck me that Chloe’s share was a “pay it forward” moment, and I may have continued the chain by igniting a moment of clarity in this executive.
Equally meaningful, ALL the shares that I’ve heard here at this zendo likely have germinated ideas in many of us, which may have propagated into our respective communities. Indeed, the zazen sessions here at Hakone, such a gift in themselves, are the sum of many acts of kindness that ripple through us all, and which would make the world around us a better place.
So, I am here today to express my gratitude for the privilege it has been to be among you all, for the place, the practice, the generous acts of kindness, and the shares.
Hakone Zendo 