The Wandering Monk
by Rodney Groves
The Monastery Garden
In ancient times a Zen master, monk and philosophical teacher of profound insight, once was teaching a group of brother monks about the deeper meanings of life. Upon completion of his lecture in the meetinghouse that day one young monk approached and asked a question of him. Wanting to know from what source this teacher acquired such insight. The monk asked, "Tell me wonderful teacher, are you a divine being from another world? Are you an angel that has been sent to us to open our minds? Are you a prophet or perhaps even a god? The master looked at him with love and caring, seeing before him a child that was not yet in touch with his own true essence.
"I have become awakened, I have transcended attachment..."
A soft and loving smile crossed his lips and he placed a hand upon the young man's shoulder. "My dear brother", he said in a tone of respect and compassion, "I am not any of these things." The young monk looked perplexed and asked the master again. "How is it that you are blessed with such great knowledge of the world and of things even beyond this life?" The master smiled and in deep respect bowed to the monk. " My dear brother," he said, " I am as you are but through my years of reflection upon life and upon my soul I have become awakened, I have transcended attachment. Just so you too someday will become awakened and begin to see life from a higher vantage point than from where you now perceive it. You must take what you have learned here today and just as you would cross a river in a small boat, you must use these teachings to help you to cross the river of self doubt and confusion to the other side, the shore that is enlightenment. When you have done so you must leave the boat at the water's edge and go forth learning and evolving, teaching others and discovering your own true essence and the true essence that is life."
The monk looked confused and again asked the great teacher "Are you indeed not an angel? No mortal man could know the secrets that you do. I will pledge my life to you and serve you all the days that I walk this earth. The master laughed, offending the poor monk who had made such a serious commitment. "My friend", he said, "You must learn to see yourself as one with all beings. None are above or below you. You are as perfect as the grass and as precious as the sun. You must not commit yourself to any one individual for the duration of your mortal existence but must commit yourself to your own enlightenment and, eventually, to serving the enlightenment of all mankind. The time will come when you must go forth upon the road and teach what you have learned. The time will come when you too will be awakened and when this happens you will step away from the boat that has brought you to the distant shore. You will not look back but will release the boat from your consciousness." The monk did not understand but went away perplexed and filled with self doubt He had been rejected by the one person in this life that he had devoted himself to completely.
In the late afternoon the monks, numbering several dozen, had gathered themselves around the master in the garden of the monastery. When they had all assembled and the chatter between them had quieted, the master, in his unassuming quiet voice, spoke. " My brothers, we are gathered here in a very special place at a very special time, yet this place is like many others and this time is not so different as other times. This is, however, a very sacred place and a very sacred time. Why is this so? Because it is here and because it is now. This is where we are, in the present tense and if we cannot be fully in the present tense then where can we be? It is in the here and the now that we live and it is in the here and the now that we act and do what will make tomorrow be what it will be.
"Look around you, my brothers and see what is here. It is a beautiful morning, is it not? The heat of the summer is passing and there is a hint of coolness in the air. See the sunlight how it filters through the trees casting shadow upon the grasses. See the fowl of the air how they flit about, each a different being than the others, each expressing in his own way the joy that he feels at being alive. From the tips of the trees they fly, singularly and in pairs, swooping down to test their skills and soaring upwards to test their strength and speed. See how they maneuver as acrobats testing their agility and quickness. They were born to fly and sing giving the world an added dimension of life and color. If only you could be as they are, living in the joy of the moment, evolving your skills and sharing the joy of life with each other."
The master stood and moved his hand in a sweeping arc, to display all that surrounded them. "This is a beautiful garden, full of variety of shape and form. At first glance a visitor would not see the intricate beauties that are unfolding, but attention paid to the details of the garden reveal hidden treasures here. Even your love is revealed here in the many potted plants that you have nurtured and cared for. This garden is an effort of each and every one of you working collectively without even being aware of your collective efforts. Each working individually to create a small piece of added beauty. What joy there is in this garden! Not just in the savoring of the result of the work, but in the process of the creation, in the joy of doing the work itself, in the joy of the smell of the rich earth and of the warmth of the sun upon your brow."
The master began to walk the rock pathways that wound through the garden. The monks followed him; each straining their ears to hear what poetry would next flow from the lips of this wonderful man. "As I walk among these plants I absorb their beauty into my own soul. In each moment I discover the uniqueness of each individual one. Each has its own personality, expressing its individual will, for each one must exert its own will to be. Buds, blooms, stalks and leaves, each one is unique in its own manifestation of the divine intelligence within itself and each one is experiencing life a little differently than the other. In this way how very similar we are to the creatures and life forms of nature. If only we could be more as nature is, living in the moment appreciating more the abundance of life around us. If only we could find joy in living in the present tense, expressing our own unique individual beauties as the birds and the flowers do. None are resentful or envious of the other. Each works at expressing the divine essence within."
The master stopped walking and turned to face the monks who were now in a throng of disarray. His gaze fell upon one young novice who was swatting at a fly that had chosen to pester the young man. " Every creature in nature has a purpose", the master said, " even the insects that plague us and irritate us at their invasion of our lives." He motioned to the young monk and the throng turned their attention in this direction. The young man stopped his activity and looked bewildered to have become the center of attention. "Take, for instance the common fly. Does it not process the garbage that the cook throws into the trash heap? It assists in turning this garbage into compost, to fertilize the flowers and plants of the garden. Yes, even the pesky creature that seems to be of no consequence is a co-creator in the beauty of this garden. Respect, even love this creature for it has been deemed to be necessary by intelligence much higher than yours or mine. The master bowed deeply to the assembled monks, who returned the gesture of respect in kind. He then walked away leaving them standing in the garden to discuss what they had just heard and to meditate upon their surroundings so that they could discover their eternal connection to the garden through the awakening of their own awareness. Some monks went off to sit alone and meditate; others stood and talked about the teachings, in quiet tones.
Two monks in particular sat on the grasses next to the brook that meandered through the garden, discussing the teachings and the course of life that had brought them to this place. " I had been a carpenter", one monk spoke to the other, "I have built many dwellings in my time, beautiful works of art of which I can be very pleased. Before coming here I had been in charge of a crew of fifty men working for the emperor constructing the great temples in the Forbidden City. No man had greater stature than I, receiving the praise of even the emperor himself." The other monk nodded, "And what brings you here?" he asked. The first monk scowled and looked upon the ground, "The emperor took favor with a younger man than I, one with radical new ideas about how the construction should be done. He did not have the eye for the design nor the love of the creation as I do. In my grief at losing favor with the emperor I began to drink and found solace in the arms of the women of the street. I had felt like a prize bull that had been gelded, not having any purpose for being.
"I have long since been separated from my family and have had nothing that gave me purpose until the master himself found me drunk and alone in the gutters. It was he who told me of the wonders of life and of the necessity of my pain." The younger monk had a look of inquisitiveness on his face. "The necessity of your pain?" he asked. "Yes, it was a necessary experience that I lived so that I could find the depth of my soul." the carpenter monk said. "Without that experience I would continue to be filled with myself and my own sense of accomplishment. I would never have been able to see the beauties of creation such as what is here in this garden. Upon telling me this, the master instructed me to come to this monastery. He left me alone to discover if the time was right to open myself to his teachings. It was and here I am, learning more than I had ever imagined."
The young monk nodded, a signal of his understanding. "Yes, it is nearly winter and I understand that the master will leave us before the first snow. What will we do in his absence?" The older monk placed his hand upon the shoulder of the other. "We will teach each other what we have learned from him. Perhaps someday he will return to us." The monk nodded in the direction of the master. In the meantime we should learn all that we can. We should meditate and pray for guidance and strength. We should pray for enlightenment. So tell me, younger brother, what brings you to this place so far from nowhere?" The younger monk smiled and gestured upwardly with his open hands, "I too found that life had lost all meaning to me. I had lost my family in the raids of the great warlords from the north and there was no one to whom I could turn for the comfort or guidance. I was but a young boy when the monks of the monastery took me in and put me to work tending to the vegetable gardens. I have been here several years now but I have never experienced the awakening of understanding that I have experienced today."
"A year or so ago I had decided to strike out on my own and return to the city to discover the pleasures of life. I left the monastery for a short time only to discover that I had a great deal of dissatisfaction in the relationships that I had with people. I worked for a time as a pot maker's apprentice only to discover that I could not keep my mind upon my work. I reached a crossroads in my life, trying to determine what it was that I should do. When I consulted with the master he told me that I should look deep into my heart to see what it was that gave me purpose, not just for now but for eternity. I decided to return here, to learn to listen to the voice of my soul. When I did so I felt an immediate renewed sense of purpose and of being. A sense of faith and of spiritual strength swept over me. I am discovering that listening to the voice of my soul takes a lot of courage and a lot of patience. The way that I look at life and how I see myself as well as others is changing. I am learning to have faith in the perfectness of life and to trust that the experience will provide a way to bring about our enlightenment." The monk motioned to a flower alongside the pathway. "We must, of course, believe in the eternal spirit of life, and to trust in its infinite power, to do so. Someday I may venture forth again into the world but for now I am content to live here, to work and to learn from the teachings of the master." The two monks bowed deeply to each other and went their separate ways to tend to their daily duties and to meditate upon the teachings they had received that morning.