Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Zen; the monk's dream


Once there was a disciplinarian monk who had kept the precepts all his life. As he was walking one night, he stepped on something that squished, which he imagined to be a frog, a mother frog laden with eggs. Mortified at the thought of having killed a pregnant frog, when the monk went to sleep that night he dreamed that hundreds of frogs came to him demanding his life. He was utterly terrified.
Come morning, the monk went to look for the frog he had squashed, and found that it had only been an overripe eggplant. At that moment, the monk's perplexities abruptly ceased; realizing there is nothing concrete in the world, for the first time he was really able to apply it practically in life.
Now I ask you, when he stepped on it by night, was it a frog or an eggplant? If it was a frog, yet when he looked at dawn it was an eggplant; if it was an eggplant, yet there were frogs demanding his life the night before. Can you decide? I'll try to decide for you:
Feelings of frogs may be shed;
but the idea of eggplant remains.
If you would be free
of the idea of eggplant,
strike the evening chime at noon.

-Foyan

19 comments:

The Dude said...

The Frog - that's easy, that's the French. Eggplant - we know who that is.

Disciplined monk? Not these days...

sakredkow said...

I knew this was deborah's post as soon as I saw the top with the title.

Big fan of deborah's posts. Not that the other founding fathers of Comment Home don't have good posts, of course.

William said...

Pity the poor eggplant. A life so insignificant that even a disciplined Zen monk does not mourn its passing. Perhaps the eggplant aspired to be a frog in its next existence.

sakredkow said...

@William: Your turn to go strike the evening chime at noon.

ricpic said...

Two kids sentenced to eat eggplant
Grew up to be the band Van Zant.
Disgusted by the mush, they brewed
Nobody Gonna Tell Me What To Do!

bagoh20 said...

I was recently deposed in a serious product liability case, and I gave that exact answer to the seminal question when asked.

They all thanked me for my wisdom and honesty. I put my pants on and left the room satisfied that I could help the powers of justice to grind out the truth yet again.

chickelit said...

Anyone have a good recipe for eggplant?

bagoh20 said...

Take one eggplant.
Barbeque a rack of baby back ribs.
Throw away eggplant.
Eat ribs.

The Dude said...

Could not have said it better, Bags.

The only good eggplant is the one that rots in the field. That is a nasty vegetable, right there.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Throw away eggplant.

I love eggplant.

Bags is not a good man, period.

(see chips post)

Mumpsimus said...

Do you know anything about the history of that relief carving, Deborah? I'd love to know the story behind the Greek inscription above the cartouche. Might it date to Alexander?

deborah said...

Mumpsimus, I followed the picture from google images and learned:

Maha Maya, Prince Siddhattha’s [Buddha's] mother, had a dream of a white elephant soon after he was conceived and that this was a portent of his future greatness."

"The picture shows the oldest representation of Maha Maya’s dream from the Bharhut Stupa 2nd century BCE."

deborah said...

Foxy devils.

Mumpsimus said...

Thank you, Deborah. One website I found says of this relief, "Above the medallion there are inscribed the words "the descent of the Blessed One." So I guess it's not Greek. Sure had me fooled.

ken in tx said...

Fried egg plant is good, but then, almost anything fried is good.

deborah said...

Sanskrit, then, Mums?

Ken, eggplant is so innocuous I'm surprised by the loathing.

Palladian said...

Anyone have a good recipe for eggplant?

Yes!

Anonymous said...

Balkan Eggplant Casserole

Wunderbar! Predivan! Csodalatos!

Anonymous said...

I knew this was deborah's post as soon as I saw the top with the title.

Likewise. Deborah is a treasure.