The Zen Monk Polishes A Tile

[Quiet Heart]

 
Once a Zen monk was visiting a temple. The monks at that temple all had a regular schedule of chanting, meditation, and study.
The Zen Monk saw another monk who was meditatiing. "What are you doing, now?", he asked.
"Well I am meditating...and I will continue meditating until I become a Buddha",the second monk replied. "I will sit here meditating, watching this wall, until I become a Buddha."
The Zen monk then sat down, picked up a broken tile, and began to polish it with the edge of his robe.
"Now what are you doing?", asked the second monk.
"I am polishing this broken tile until it becomes a beautiful gem", the Zen monk answered.
"That's rediculous,", said the second monk,"it will never work. When will ever make that tile into a beautiful gem by simply polishing it with your robe?"
"Well', said the Zen monk, "probably about the same time you become a Buddha, by sitting there in meditation and watching that wall."
 

[Shi Hong Yang]

 

[Dae Bi]

Buddha nature is whithin all of us now.  All we must do is realise it!  I tend to think, this is where most Soto practioners go astray.    They say that if  you sit Shikantaza then whilst this is occuring, one has the Buddha nature.     What most Soto practioners fail to realise, is this is an example, not the end all and be all.  So to all my Soto friends,  don't just sit there, do something!

[kwanseum]

... don't just sit there, do something!

Do what?  They are complete already.  There is nothing to do.

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

One of my favorite little stories about meditation.

[Dae Bi]

... don't just sit there, do something!

Do what?  They are complete already.  There is nothing to do.

Why is that?

[kwanseum]

... don't just sit there, do something!

Do what?  They are complete already.  There is nothing to do.

Why is that?

In the words of Master Seongcheol:

Take a good look at yourself.
You are already saved. You are originally Buddha.
You are overflowing with happiness and glory. To talk of paradise or heaven is to be talking in your sleep.

Take a good look at yourself.
Transcend time and space, and you'll see that you are eternal, you are infinite. Should the universe collapse and disappear, you would still be immovable. You are all forms and all formlessness in the universe, the universe itself. You are the twinkling stars and the dancing butterflies�you are everything.

Take a good look at yourself.
All truths are within you. To look for truth outside yourself is to search for water outside of the ocean.

Take a good look at yourself.
There is no death in eternity, but those who don't know themselves worry about death. They fret about it, and they dread it.

Take a good look at yourself.
You are originally pure gold. But because you are blinded by personal profit and greed, you mistake this gold for alloy. Forget your selfishness and use all your energies to help others. If you remove all traces of greed and desire, the Eye of the Heart will open up and you'll see yourself as you really are, as pure gold.

Take a good look at yourself.
Poverty and starvation are superficial realities; the poor and the starving are fundamentally noble and sublime. To feel sorry for people based on superficialities is a grave insult to them. We must learn to respect and serve everyone.

Take a good look at yourself.
This age of rampant materialism is harming you. You are the ocean itself, yet you are paying attention only to the spray from the waves. Dwell on the ocean, not on the spray.

Take a good look at yourself.
The Buddha did not appear in this world to save us. He came to teach us that we are already saved, originally saved. What a tremendous joy it is for us to live with this Truth�so let's all bless everything together!

[FaDao]

Ch'an often teaches that meditation is a controlled environment is "training". It trains us to take the meditative state and the dhamma knowledge into the day-to-day world.

I can sit and polish a broken tile -- if there is reason to polish a broken tile. I practice Ch'an when polishing the tile adds positive karma into a polluted world stream. If polishing that tile means I can learn to live the dhamma while a bored cop is writing me a ticket I didn't deserve or by sharing my food with those who have less than "I"  -- my time in polishing the tile was well spent.

Staring at the wall does not make one a Buddha. Living the lessons comes a great deal closer. 

Namo Amitofo
- Fa Dao -

[Lobster]

Accepting things as they are' and striving to improve them is living the Dharma while causing or accepting suffering because 'that's the way things are' is Nihilism.

I feel the tag line was a more relevant quote. Stillness in diversity and adversity (dukkha) is one of the results of the Buddhist path. Activity, rather than tile polishing takes many forms. Sometimes the wall. Sometimes the world. That's Buddha life.