Wild Fox Zen
Here’s a story that’s been on my mind recently. Katagiri Roshi dishes out a world class butt chewing which was pretty unusual, especially given that the student wasn’t yours truly. But its been coming up for me because it shows how important Katagiri regarded work in the world.
A student once said to Katagiri Roshi, “I get a job for only short periods of time so I can then collect unemployment compensation.
Roshi said, “Then your job has no relation with your life!”
The students said, “You don’t need to be so serious. Working hard is foolish.”
Roshi said, “You are a transient onlooker and thus can offer nice comments limitlessly and criticize endlessly. It is a quite different direction from walking with all living beings, transcending the desires of the self by all means necessary.”
The economic realities of today, of course, are quite different than when this dialogue occurred. A student here at Yugeji just lost his good job of many years. He was laid off along with the 150,000 other Americans this week and did not quit to get unemployment compensation! Roshi’s points, however, still seem important. Our work is one way for us to walk together with all beings, dropping self-centeredness.
How does this impact you?
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