Lin Chi’s Tears

There is a tale that we'd like to bring forward at this time. ‘Tis a story which has given us comfort at the time of the loss of loved ones from our own lives - loss either temporary because of space and time, or permanent because of ultimate necessity.

The setting for this tale is that of the Far East - and arises from the Buddhist tradition.

[As a prelude, it is said of Gautama Buddha that He himself was one day approached by a young mother holding the body of her recently deceased infant. She demanded that the Buddha, were He really so wise and great, restore life to her dead child.

The Buddha directed the mother to leave her child’s body with Him, and for her to go out and canvass the city - to seek a home in which tragedy and suffering had not occurred in the lives of the occupants. On finding such fortunate people, she was to bring them back to the Buddha, and He gave His promise to the grieving mother that He would then restore life to her child.

The mother was gone for two full days on her quest, but finally returned to the Buddha alone.

On her return, she asked for the body of her child and took it away for burial, thanking the Buddha for the realization that loss – no matter how great - is but a phase of all human life.]

Now for the promised tale (adapted from Osho Rajneesh’s “Only One Sky”) – If you enjoy it, hang onto it for a while - like a good wine it grows on one, and may be of help in the fullness of time:

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It happened: The Master of Lin Chi died. The Master was a well-known man, even though he had been a very private, silent man. As a result of Lin Chi, his Master had become very famous. But Lin Chi was even better known than his Master, because of his more outgoing nature. Through Lin Chi’s own works people came to know that he, himself, was also enlightened.

But the Master died. A crowd of thousands gathered to pay their respects to the Master and to bid him the last farewell, but the people were astonished when they saw Lin Chi crying and weeping and tears flowing down like a small child. The people could not understand this because they had thought that Lin Chi had attained enlightenment - and here he was, crying like a small child. That may be okay when a person is still ignorant, but when a person has Awakened, and he himself has even been teaching others that one’s innermost nature is immortal, eternal, and that it never dies, then why would he weep?

A few who were very close to Lin Chi came and told him, “This is not good, Lin Chi - what will the people think about you? - Already there is a rumor: people are wondering if they were wrong in thinking that you had attained enlightenment. Your whole prestige is at stake. You must stop crying! A man such as you does not weep.”

Lin Chi replied “But what can I do? The tears are coming! It is their own Dharmata – their own destiny. And who am I to stop them? I neither reject nor accept anything; I just remain inside myself. Now on the outside where the tears are seen to be flowing, nothing can be done. If my prestige is at stake, so let it be. If the people think I am not enlightened, that is their own business. But what can I do? I left the ‘doer’ long ago. There is no longer any ‘doer’. All is simply happening. These eyes are weeping of their very own accord, because they will not be able to see the Master again - and he was nourishment to these eyes; they lived on that food. I know very well that the soul is eternal, no one ever dies; but how to teach these eyes? What to tell them? They don't listen to me; they don't have any ears. How to teach these eyes not to weep, not to cry, that life is eternal? And who am I to tell them, anyway? It is their own business. If these eyes have to weep, then they have every right to weep.”

Remaining natural and loose means this: things just happen, you are not the ‘doer’. Neither accepting nor rejecting, ego self-will dissolves. The very concepts of ego and will power become empty and absent - simply withers away; and ego pride vanishes into nothingness.

It is difficult to understand such an enlightened person. No concepts will be helpful. What to think about Lin Chi? He says, 'I know - but it’s only the eyes which are crying; let them cry, they will feel relaxed. They know that they will not be able to see their beloved again; the Master’s body is to be burned soon; and these eyes were nourished by him, and they knew no beauty other than this man, and they knew no other grace. They have lived too long being nourished on that man's form, his body. Now, of course, they feel thirsty, hungry; now, of course, they feel that the very ground is disappearing underneath them – and so they are weeping’.

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[So that’s the tale. We’ve pondered on it in a number of settings over the years, and came to realize that – as suggested in the preamble – losses which affect the ‘eyes’ in this way are not only those of a ‘permanent’ nature, i.e. because of life’s inherent flows. For instance, what parents’ eyes do not hunger for the sight of their created offspring, yet the parents realize that sometimes there has to be temporary estrangement from those that they deeply love and who also love them. ‘Tis but the way of life and learning. Sometimes inter-personal space has to be experienced in the lives of those who love. Temporary separation – with its illusory comfort of consensual space/time - allows for ongoing internal maturity to proceed in the lives of those who love.

Perhaps, wherever true love has once been present, spatial/temporal ‘separation’ is but a necessary surface form through which to realize that deeper truth which is otherwise unattainable. That we are all only ‘separate’ at the surface – below, we can never be apart.

Go figure.]

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