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"The Old Zen Master - Inspirations for Awakening"
By Trevor Leggett
(145 pages, £8.99, Buddhist Publishing Group)
This new book (published March 2000) consists mainly of talks
originally given to the Buddhist society of London over the last 10 years.
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Extract from "Robes of Honour"
"...In these ways, we put robes of honour on ourselves, and they hamper us and we can't do the job properly.
In Judo there is a certain grading contest called 'one-against-ten.' You have to take on ten men-one after another. They are generally a couple of grades below you, and with luck are so terrified of you, that it is easy to dispose of them. But one or two of them think, 'Everybody knows I'm going to lose anyway, so I've nothing to lose,' and they come shooting at you, taking fantastic risks. Because you are so sure of your own superiority, which he doesn't seem to recognize, and because he comes straight at you - 'whoosh' - you can't get the robes of self-conceit and assurance off in time, so that, once in a blue moon, he scores. Then you know what it is like to look an utter fool. This happened to some rather famous contest men who were not fully alert because they felt it was unnecessary. They had already put on the robes of their coming victory. No longer simply the judo champions they ought to be, they became judo champions combined with something restricting - judo champions in cumbersome robes of honour." |
Specimen Chapters
Regrets
Casual Doubts
Taking Refuge in the Sangha
Studying the Holy Texts
Leaves and Moss
East and West
Triumph or Success
A Hundred Hearings, Not Like One Seeing
Sword and Mind
Jottings from Zen Master Bukko
If You're Going to Die, Die Quick!
Robes of Honour