Saturday, October 25, 2008


Buddha has many forms and yet none
A broad mind contains mountains, rivers, blossoms and cities of glass and steel
The robe sewn is beyond praise or blame
Sadly teachers of great lineages disown and reject their own blood and others
In the name what we call the truth
The poison of religion runs easily in our veins
Wisdom and Emptiness cultivated without Compassion
Take us to a blind and arrogant field
May I be ordinary
simple
plain
just
me

3 Comments:

Blogger Harry said...

Hi Pierre,

Have you considered that your position contrary to those 'arrogant masters' may just be a type of inverted arrogance itself?

It may well be that a Master such as, say, Dogen Zenji, would speak in a way that seemed arrogant based solely in his perception that he was genuinely helping people (and he did speak in this way).

Arrogance is the sort of simple human behavior that maybe we understand better through accepting, through using it, as it exists in ourselves.

And by the way, isn't having a French man preach against arrogance a little like having a Chinese man caution against the dangers of eating rice! :-))

Regards,

Harry.

7:44 PM  
Blogger Taigu said...

Thank you, Harry; "May I be"...means, well, I am not. How do you know Dogen was arrogant just for the sake of helping people? Did you meet him?
Arrogance and French people go well together according to the not so jocking Mike Cross. Are you tempted to follow his foot steps?
All the best

1:10 AM  
Blogger Harry said...

Hi Pierre,

I don't really know regarding Master Dogen's apparently arrogant statements, that's why I said "...it may well be", but the 'helpful arrogance' thing seems a reasonable enough assumption given that his considerable efforts seem to have been about helping, clarifying, pointing out etc. And he did make many statements which challenged his own more strident or 'arrogant' views... maybe he was just an ordinary guy with his own silly opinions which contradicted other things he said (shock! horror!... he was just like us!). This is forgivable I think.

If I can eventually come to follow your Master to the zafu (i.e. if I can practice Zazen as much as he does) I shall consider that a good thing. I'll certainly continue to take his opinions, as I take yours, Master Dogen's and my own(sometimes!), with a pinch of salt.

Here's another arrogant opinion... this is the most successful of your new haiku in terms of tone and content:


Sannomiya subway

the only man singing

a dirty old tramp


It is directly indirect, it avoids sentimentality, it focuses in on the subject/detail realistically while implying much more... nicely done.

Regards,

Harry.

8:06 AM  

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