Happy New Year Trilingual
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New Year's Impressions
Man does not live on bread alone---The way of business
taught by Jesus and Rinzai
Working
experience of Jesus
Jesus
was a descendent of a Royal family and Levi’s tribe as his legal father Joseph was a royal
descendant of David and his mother Mary belonged to the tribe of Levi, the only
tribe allowed to continue as priests. Therefore Jesus belonged to an elite
class who could meet with religious and political leaders. Yet he still worked
at ranches, farms, breweries, and construction sites in order to help his
mother take care of his younger siblings after his father, Joseph, died
relatively early.
Jesus
inherited his religious knowledge from his mother. However his life experiences
were working at quarries, farms etc as a coolie, which
were reflected in his preaching. Jesus got his faith from these experiences,
"Man does not work for bread alone, but for every word that comes from the
mouth of God" (Mat4:4) and "the people who are entrusted the word of
God are gods"(John10:35) and he started to preach the gospel, said
"the son of man namely the son of God".
Paul's
vocation theory
Paul
said in a letter to the Christians in
Differences
between a shepherd and an employee
Jesus
also taught us in Gospel of John, "I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd
who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and
runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away
because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep." (John10:11-13)
Jesus
told us the two creeds of life, one for shepherds and another for employees. He
did not say that it was always good to be eaten to death by the wolf. In fact,
until the day of the Passover, the day on which he decided to be crucified,
Jesus always said "My time has not come yet" and escaped form the
people who wanted to kill him.
Whether
the shepherd is a vocation, by which the man should sacrifice his life, is
dependent on the will of God. Jesus too, who had prepared for his plan to be
crucified, reciprocated between the valley where the late John the Baptist had
based for his mission and Lazarus' home outside Jerusalem more than one month
before the Passover. He shod sweat and blood after the Last Supper, appealing
to God, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me"
(Mat26:39). Determining the true purpose
of God is so difficult even for Jesus.
Rinzai’s true man who has no rank
Rinzai, the Zen monk of the Tang Dynasty said "A true man who has
no rank but has complete integrity exists on the red meat ball and comes and
goes from your face doors. One who has not testified yet, watch it now.” (Rinzai-roku) No rank means “to abide nowhere and completely
free”. The face doors mean ears, nose, mouth and numerous pores, etc. Paul also said, "In fact, it says, 'The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in
your heart.' And that message is the very message about faith that we
preach."
(Roma10:8)
Rinzai continued to say, "Gentlemen, Buddhism has no crafts, seeing
things as they are, taking a leak and a crap, dressing, eating and lieing tired. Idiots may laugh, the wise knows it. As the
ancients said, "One who devises outward is the sheer folly." The
place where you stand, if you become the master, anywhere anytime becomes true.
While the environment changing rapidly, do not be preoccupied. If you can do
this way, you can swim in the ocean of liberation." (Rinzai-roku)
The food-wheel and the Dharma both rolling
In
its ultimate essence, every action of daily life from taking a leak and a crap to
food, clothing and shelter is no different from practicing and testifying of
Buddhism or proclaiming the Word. Business is no exception. Just rolling the wheel of food and making
profits is not enough. Only after turning the Dharma-wheel, then can you get the ultimate
satisfaction to say "God with us".(Mat1:23) If you turn the Dharma-wheel, the food-wheel must turn even though the
cycles of the two wheels may different. While you may need to close your
account each year, each month or each day when you turn the food-wheel, we must
consider the longer cycle for the Dharma-wheel,
for example one hundred years or one thousand years. (Ekoan Hensho：2010/01/04)