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<\/a><\/div>\nBrian Howlett<\/a>, an old Dharma<\/a> buddy posted an anecdote about Paul Rep<\/a>s on his Facebook page.<\/p>\n Reps was one of the more interesting characters on the American spiritual scene, particularly active in the middle of the twentieth century. He was born in 1895 and died in 1990. After that the facts get a bit sketchy. While quite young he traveled to Asia. He clearly knew a fair amount about Zen Buddhism<\/a> and would later partner with the Zen missionary Nyogen Senzaki<\/a> to create a very important book in my life. <\/p>\n I was still casting about for a spiritual home. It was the Bay Area in the late nineteen sixties, so there were any number of spiritual teachers presenting their wares. But also I read. And I\u2019m pretty sure my first book on Zen was his. If not the first, certainly the second. And, it is the one I continue to remember. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones<\/i><\/a>. A very good first book. Perhaps a tad romantic. But a very good book\u2026<\/p>\n For those interested in such, Reps also appears to be the first American to write haiku. His book More Power to You \u2013 Poems Everyone Can Make<\/i><\/a> was published in 1939.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n So, with that background, on to the anecdote from my friend. It reads:<\/p>\n At one point Reps had traveled to Japan, with plans to visit a respected Zen master in Korea. He went to the passport office in Japan to apply for his visa and was politely informed that his request was denied due to the war that had just broken out in Korea.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Reps sat down in the waiting area. He had come thousands of miles with the plan to study with this master in Korea. He was frustrated and disappointed. What did he do? He practiced what he preached. Reaching into his bag, he mindfully pulled out his thermos and poured himself a cup of tea. With a calm and focused mind, he watched the steam rising and dissolving into the air. He smelled its fragrance, tasted its tasty bitter flavor, and enjoyed its warmth and wetness. Finishing his tea, he put his cup back on his thermos, put his thermos in his bag, and pulled out a pen and paper upon which he wrote a Haiku poem.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Mindfully, he walked back to the clerk behind the counter, bowed, and presented him with his poem, and his passport. The clerk read it and looked deeply into the quiet strength in Rep\u2019s eyes. The clerk smiled, bowed with respect, picked up Rep\u2019s visa and stamped it for passage to Korea. The Haiku read:\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Drinking a cup of tea,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/i> While I\u2019m not sure it is exactly a haiku, I certainly liked the sentiment. But, I admit the narrative didn\u2019t completely ring true, at least in the factual sense. The lack of specificity in such stories about people makes me want to know where it comes from. I asked Brian and he said a google search gives one source as a couple who\u2019ve included it in a book<\/a> that appears to be about stress management from a spiritual perspective. It does have a forward by the Dalai Lama, so it probably touches deeper than my first impression from the advertising copy suggests.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
I stopped the war.<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n