[HITCHING RIDES WITH BUDDHA] REVIEW
Finally finished this humorous book by Will Ferguson, who was chasing Cherry Blossom Front from Cape Sata in the south, to Cape Soya at the north, covering a total of three thousands kilometres. Well I believe that the the reason behind the title of this book can be summarised by the extract below:
That night, I dreamt of Buddha.
He was standing beside the highway and he was holding up a sign. It read: Hello! everybody, I am Buddha. Please don't kill me. Then just when I reached him, he drove off in a small Toyota car.
There is a Zen saying: "If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him!" This is why I gave up on Zen. It was simply too provocative a statement, one that seemed painfully contrived like replying to the question: What is the Buddha?" with the answer "Dried dung." (An actual exchange between Zen monks.)
If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him. Reams of commentary have been written about this statement, much of it of the esoteric angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin variety. Endless interpretations are possible. Semantics are dissected. Debates are waged. It is argued that the Buddha is not a real person but a state of mind, a catalyst to Enlightenment. If you think you have met the Buddha, you haven't. The Buddha you can see is not the real Buddha; it is an illusion. Destroy it. Other interpretations have been less esoteric: It is the Buddha you meet on the road, and he must be killed. Why? Because you have to move beyond the realm of opposites, beyond Thou and I, beyond subject and object. Beyond even the Buddha.
One thing that has always puzzled me about Zen, and indeed most Eastern paths to enlightenment, is that it always ends up back where it started. The boy searches for his ox. He finds it. The world disappears... and then he returns to the market, to the everyday. If Zen Buddhism is about the everyday, why depart in the first place? Why not simply enjoy the flow of characters who enter and depart, the moments that come and go?
If life is an illusion, maybe the illusion is not at all bad. Maybe the illusion is life. Maybe the solution is not breaking through, but pulling back, learning to embrace the illusion, learning to accept the transient world around us, learning to live among mirages.
If you meet the Buddha on the road, do not kill him. Hold out your thumb. Who knows, he might offer you a ride.
EXTRACTED FROM [HITCHING RIDES WITH BUDDHA] PG 376, WILL FERGUSON
Well, this book has certainly broadened my knowledge of Zen, Cherry Blossom Fronts, Japan and Japanese. Highly recommended for compatriots who likes Japan.
That night, I dreamt of Buddha.
He was standing beside the highway and he was holding up a sign. It read: Hello! everybody, I am Buddha. Please don't kill me. Then just when I reached him, he drove off in a small Toyota car.
There is a Zen saying: "If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him!" This is why I gave up on Zen. It was simply too provocative a statement, one that seemed painfully contrived like replying to the question: What is the Buddha?" with the answer "Dried dung." (An actual exchange between Zen monks.)
If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him. Reams of commentary have been written about this statement, much of it of the esoteric angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin variety. Endless interpretations are possible. Semantics are dissected. Debates are waged. It is argued that the Buddha is not a real person but a state of mind, a catalyst to Enlightenment. If you think you have met the Buddha, you haven't. The Buddha you can see is not the real Buddha; it is an illusion. Destroy it. Other interpretations have been less esoteric: It is the Buddha you meet on the road, and he must be killed. Why? Because you have to move beyond the realm of opposites, beyond Thou and I, beyond subject and object. Beyond even the Buddha.
One thing that has always puzzled me about Zen, and indeed most Eastern paths to enlightenment, is that it always ends up back where it started. The boy searches for his ox. He finds it. The world disappears... and then he returns to the market, to the everyday. If Zen Buddhism is about the everyday, why depart in the first place? Why not simply enjoy the flow of characters who enter and depart, the moments that come and go?
If life is an illusion, maybe the illusion is not at all bad. Maybe the illusion is life. Maybe the solution is not breaking through, but pulling back, learning to embrace the illusion, learning to accept the transient world around us, learning to live among mirages.
If you meet the Buddha on the road, do not kill him. Hold out your thumb. Who knows, he might offer you a ride.
EXTRACTED FROM [HITCHING RIDES WITH BUDDHA] PG 376, WILL FERGUSON
Well, this book has certainly broadened my knowledge of Zen, Cherry Blossom Fronts, Japan and Japanese. Highly recommended for compatriots who likes Japan.
posted by yoshihiko at 11:20 PM
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