Lin-Chi and the Ten Feet Square Hut - Essay Example

OF THE TEACHERS LIN-CHI AND THE TEN FEET SQUARE HUT THE ZEN TEACHINGS OF THE MASTER LIN-CHI Record of Lin-chi, translated by Burton Watson explains the existence of a true man without rank in an explicit manner. Balance between action and tranquility depicted by a man in life, is his true rank. The action without the fusion of reaction, can only lead a man towards his true stature. Yet a body contains none of the true agents unless he is in peace with his inside. The power of action lies in a man’s hand, but his decisions to imply that power is much more powerful than the energy itself. A man capable of extreme stroke, when empowers the desire and maintains to be amid, a man of word and action; becomes a true man. The aim of life is not to wait and watch throughout but to take action when it is needed without hesitation or second thoughts. Doubts can blur the path of destiny so can the temptation of desire. Thus, true man comes with a light and he has a vision which is visible and can be shared by his fellow men. A powerful mind can hold a powerful body, which in turn influences power and control over him and others. Inspiring sayings of Leader of Zen Master, Lin- chi concluded complex laws of life and success; in an easy approach. The core of Buddhism is based on the philosophy of sensibility, down to earth behavior, practical approach of action in life and spirituality. The temptation felt by five senses of a human enable him to experience the state of materialism. The uncountable desires and the appeal of the objective achievement pushes a man into a state of rush for life long. The rigorous journey of Narvana also ends up by rewarding the traveler with experience and patience. Therefore, the control on uncountable desires puts one to ease and struggle for more is stopped by him. This control over temptation makes him the most powerful among others. The relevance of right and wrong is within oneself, thus there is no need to look for the directions elsewhere. Hence, a true man has the potential to evaluate and assess the right path and can ascertain it for others without getting influenced by them. The ancestors of Buddha never looked towards others for the answers they completely depended upon. Lin-chi the master of martial arts depicted action in equilibrium and the tone of voice adjacent to the action. Thus, the action of a leader is not without a reason, if he shouts the message is to convey the note of readiness, as a leader never attacks his rival in the state of ignorance. Every action, shout, beat, knock, kick and jump is balanced in its true essence. Thus, the pattern needs to be learnt and practiced to predict the move of rivals. The clearly of action portray the feature of true man, who can decide the action himself according to the environment. True man is calm and free from any sort of constrains; therefore, his actions have coherence and objectivity in them. Acceptance is the key lesson which a master taught his students to live life gracefully with low expectations. According to the theory of “The way” aimlessness or going nowhere is nothing that should be despised just like today. When you don’t strive for materialistic benefits, they come after you eventually because fate has decided that you will face both glories and blessings in your life. No matter what you do, you cannot get more than your destined or decided share. Acting ordinary is the part of the bargain. Act like the crowd and be contended and confident in the state you are in, which will lead you to your destiny. The same theory can be taken in terms of being true to one self. When people try to be something else to gain benefits, they not only deceive people, but also themselves. Their true nature is even hidden by themselves, which destroys their veracity and uprightness. To be the one you are and not what you desire to be that should be the actual way of living. According to Lin-Chi, a person’s mind should be free from doubts to become a man of true virtues. There should be no hindrances between mind and experience to achieve the heights in any specific area. Just as Zen master told us that for success your mind should be free of obscuring views, ideas should be free of hesitations, and heart should be free of doubts before setting a foot in the battle field of life. With doubts in one’s heart, he cannot pursue his goals with equal zeal and ardor as the task requires. THE TEN FOOT SQUARE HUT Twelfth century was a time of chaos for Japan. Wars and disasters of different kind overtook the whole country, which instantly affected the country’s religious sector as well. Komo No Chomei was a 12th century author and a Buddhist and he believed that he was facing Armageddon due to the nature of the events. As for Buddhism, he believed that it was the end of the time or Samsara i.e., renaissance of everything. He believed this because various aspects of Buddhism transformed and new modifications were made in the religion during this period. He describes what horrors he saw during those deadly disasters. He also wrote about various positive attitudes of human nature, which he saw during such calamities. For example he illustrates a picture of parent’s undying love for their offspring when they feed their last portion of food to their children for survival. Kamo no chomei further described a fire in 1177, a whirlwind in 1180, famine in 1134 and 1181 and an earthquake in 1185. All of these natural disasters almost lead the country to an end. Komo no Chomei depicts the picture of his hut in a way that even being small it becomes big enough for his living. Though the area of hut was just ten feet square and less than seven feet high, but it was enough for his needs. The hut was made of thatch and walls were plastered roughly with mud. He expressed the uncertainty of life by describing his hut. He kept his hut in a movable position so that it can be easily transported to somewhere else whenever he wants it shifted. On the left of his hut a shelf was placed with water and flowers for Buddha, on the north Japanese volumes of poems and music were placed. On the eastern side a mat was kept that could be used as a bed or for sitting. Just like himself, his hut was also neither dominating nor it was intimidating in any way. Quite contrary, it was humble, quite and harmless like his nature. While determining one’s way of achieving one true nature or heights of Buddhism, there always are contradictions between different people’s way of thinking. In the same case, some people might describe Komo no’s greed for quietness as a selfish aspect of his nature even though all kinds of greed are strongly discouraged in Buddhism. However, it can be certainly true for komo No to attain this quietness to relieve himself of several types of greed. Komo no wanted to be freed from this world and its materialistic requirements. Leading a life amongst over ambitious people could only escort him to complications, for he was a person seeking goals that were very different from others. Komo no chei made a motionless environment around him through his hut, without going into complete isolation for his own gratification. There he found true essence of his nature by having little interaction with people, and more or less no interaction with outer life. He reduced his desires and needs from big to small and then to smaller. This depicts that he was on his way to enlightenment, though he had no idea of his own success. This downsizing of his desires and luxuries was an evident quality he shared with Buddha. He understood true meaning of his life while living in a hut and not in a mansion. The same hut, however small, gave him the peace and sanctity he was looking for all his life. He became calm and quiet and pondered on every little object around him. This way he realized that every little thing around him is impermanent as the state of his life. He ascertained the futility of doing any effort to secure a place in this world. REFERENCES: Top of Form Kamo, Chōmei. The Ten Foot Square Hut. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1928. Print. Top of Form Linji, , and Burton Watson. The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi. Boston: Shambhala, 1993. Print. Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More