[MD] How the buddha Got His Face

[118]

Yes that is a good "story".  I am aware of what my face looked like, it is how I live my life.  This is where MoQ will take one.

Mark

On Sep 17, 2011, at 5:06 AM, MarshaV <valkyr at att.net> wrote:

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> I do love a good story...     
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> "One of the most famous Zen Buddhist koans, or riddles that move one beyond merely rational thought structures is “What did your face look like before your parents were born?” The koan goes to the very heart of Buddhism, since Buddhism is a religion that finds the idea of a personal self to be something of an illusion, something that gets in the way of understanding, something to be transcended through enlightenment ."  
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> ...   
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> "Menander was a lucky guy. He had a good Buddhist master in the form of the Venerable Nagasena who answered his questions and put him on the path to Enlightenment. The exchange between the two is a classic of Buddhism and still very instructional for those of us who are not kings and don’t ever want to be. Menander begins by asking Nagasena who he is.
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> "Nagasena says that his parents gave him the name Nagesena but there is no person named Nagasena here. Menander asks him then who it is that wears robes, accepts alms and keeps vows. Nagesena replies that it’s not Nagesena. The king asks him whether any of his body parts are Nagasena. No. The king asks him whether his feelings or perceptions, impulses or consciousness are Nagasena. No. Finally the king calls him a liar for say that his name was Nagasena.
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> "Then Nagasena shows him the difference between a conventional usage and a deeper reality by showing the king that his favorite chariot is only a useful symbol and a name, since no part or accumulation of parts can be said to constitute a ‘chariot’. Ultimate reality is beyond both things and the symbols that describe them.
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> "The most impressive lines of the dialogue come when Menander asks where wisdom dwells. Nagasena says that it dwells nowhere. The king says that there then must be no such thing as wisdom. Nagasena asks him where the wind dwells. The king says that it dwells nowhere. “Then there is no wind either,” replies Nagasena."   
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> http://opencopy.org/lectures/western-encounters-with-buddhism/1-how-the-buddha-got-his-face/     
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