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Buddha's Bowls
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When we think of the writings and sayings of The Buddha, we fail to
understand that there is also a metaphysical side to them and ourselves.
Everything is not as it is, but can also be applied to what it should
be. In later years to come Lin Chi would find
this out, in a most insidious manner.
The Buddha (Gotama) talked about only needing his bowl and robes. And,
by keeping them with him at all times, and maintaining them, that this is
all that he needed when ready to go on his alms round. Thus, before he
went on his daily alms round he made ready his bowl and robes.
His bowl was his talent, when we think of this in a Christian sense.
His bowl is his tools, when we think of this in a Journey Man sense. His
bowl is his profession or practice, when you think of this in a modern day
sense.
The bowl is not the bowl. The bowl is the method by which The Buddha
sustained his being while here on earth. He says, "When you are
hungry eat." Something, that you can do only when you take care of
your bowl.
If you are hungry, The Buddha is telling you that you can not just go
get some food and come back. You need a vessel to gather the food with.
"And what, monks, is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of
Suffering?
"And what, monks, is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of
Suffering? It is the complete fading-away and extinction of
the craving, its forsaking and abandonment, liberation from it,
detachment from it. And how does this craving come to be abandoned,
how does its cessation come about?"
"Wherever in the world there is anything agreeable and
pleasurable, there its cessation comes about. And what is there in
the world that is agreeable and pleasurable?"
"The eye in the world is agreeable and pleasurable, the
ear...the nose...the tongue...the body...the mind in the world is
agreeable and pleasurable, and there this craving comes to be
abandoned, there its cessation comes about."
Mahasatipatthana Sutta: The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of
Mindfulness, in Thus Have I Heard: The Long Discourses of the
Buddha, trans. by Maurice Walsh |
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