Xinghua Cunjiang
Jap., Koke Sonsho
| born: 830 died: 888 place: China |
| stories: Osho Yakusan: Straight to the Point of Enlightenment, ch. 1 |
| oshobob The Living Workshop |
| Zen Masters |
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| Koke received a horse from the Emperor Doko as a reward for his teaching. He rode away on it, but then fell off and broke his leg. When he returned to the temple he had the head monk make some crutches. Supported by the crutches, Koke came across a monk, to whom he said, "Do you know me?" "Why shouldn't I know you?" replied the monk. Koke said, "Here's somebody who expounded the dharma, and can't walk as a result of it." On another occasion, a monk asked Koke, "What should we speak about before the Many- children Stupa?" Koke said, "If one tells a lie, ten thousand report it as truth." Lies are very impressive. You just start a lie and by the evening the whole city will be believing it. Perhaps on the way home it may come to you also, and you may suspect whether it is a lie or a truth. If the whole city – such a self-styled cultured city – believes it, it must be true. If you say the truth to anybody, nobody is going to believe it: "You! And you have found the truth?" Just keep your mouth shut. If people hear it, they will kill you. But if you give a beautiful lie, everybody enjoys it and it goes on from mouth to mouth immediately, like wildfire. And soon it becomes true. It gathers new information that you had not imparted, it gathers new ornaments, and by the evening when it comes back to you, you cannot believe this is the same lie that you had started. The world loves lies, because lies don't need you to be transformed. Lies are good conversation, but truth is a danger. To utter it is to invite all kinds of calamities... --Osho Yakusan: Straight to the Point of Enlightenment, ch. 1 |