Bankei And Young Lord

A certain lord who studied Zen from Bankei was young and fond of martial arts. One day he decided to test the master’s “gut” by suddenly attacking him with a lance as he sat quietly.

The Zen master calmly deflected the trust with his rosary.

Then he said to the lord, “Your technique is still immature, your mind moved first.”

Be Receptive

This story says how much in a hurry we are. As we are we are living in mind. Person who lives in no-mind even if you attack from behind he will know. At the same time he will not attack you he will use his energy for defending only.

Benkei taught two things in a single sentence – as a martial art person you need to use your energy only in defending through his action and second thing you are a servant of your mind through his words – your mind is commanding you. If both the things indicate only one word Aggressive. We are Aggressive.

You come from the past. You are the past. This past-oriented mind goes on creating aggression, goes on thinking in terms of aggression.

So when religion says, “Be receptive,” the advice goes unheard. The mind cannot think how it can be receptive. Mind has known just one thing in which it has been only receptive, in which it has not been able to do anything, could not act – and that is death. The only thing that the mind has known in which it has to be receptive is death. So whenever someone says, “Be receptive” somewhere in the shadows you feel death. If I say, “Be receptive,” the mind will say, “Then you will die. Be aggressive if you want to exist and survive. The fittest survives. The most aggressive one survives. If you are just receptive you will die.”

That is why receptivity is never understood – not heard, not understood. This receptivity has been said in so many ways. When someone says, “Surrender,” it means to be receptive. Surrender means: do not be aggressive. When someone says, “Be faithful,” it means, “Be receptive.”

Do not be aggressive with your logic. Receive existence as it is. Let it come in. That is why the mind cannot love, because love means to be receptive to someone. Even in love we are aggressive. If you ask Freud, he will say love is nothing but a sort of violence. A mutual violence which two partners have agreed to. And when Freud says this he is not just talking nonsense. He means it – and he knows something.

The human mind as it is – as it has come out of the past – cannot love because it cannot be receptive. It can only be aggressive. So it is not that you are loving. You always demand love. And even if you act lovingly, it is only to force the demand. There is a cunning logic: it is always demanding, “Give me love.” And if I give you love, that is only to demand – to make the demand forceful. The human mind cannot love.

Learning from the story Bankei And Young Lord: Be Receptive

Experience Learning

Truth cannot be sought – one can simply be receptive, that’s all. One can open the doors and wait. One can say only this much, “If the divine guest comes, you will be received, welcomed. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know your address and I cannot even send an invitation. But whosoever you are, and whomsoever it concerns, if you come, my doors will be open – you will not find them closed.” That´s all that a seeker can do. And that´s all that is needed to be done. More than that is not possible and is not needed.

So let this posture be your deep attitude. One has to become receptive. The search for truth is not a male search. It is a feminine search – just like feminine energy – receptive. Not like a male – aggressive.

Meditativeness is simply a deep receptivity, a readiness, an open door.

Receptivity is a state of no-mind. When you are utterly empty of all thought, when consciousness has no content, when the mirror reflects nothing, it is receptivity. Receptivity is the door to the divine. Drop the mind and be.

A deep receptivity is needed. There is no need to buy my staff, it is always yours. Only have a welcoming heart, a deep receptivity, patience; it can descend on you at any moment. Sometimes it comes near to you and you become scared. Sometimes, on many centers of your body I hit but then you are scared, then you want to escape from it. Be alert to the mind; the mind will always tell you to escape. Wherever there is danger the mind will tell you: run away from here.

When you listen, you become just a passage, a passivity, a receptivity, a womb: you become feminine. And to arrive one has to become feminine. You cannot reach God as aggressive invaders, conquerors. You can reach God only… or it will be better: God can reach you only when you are receptive, a feminine receptivity. When you become yin, a receptivity, the door is open. And you wait.

In receptivity ego cannot exist — it can exist only in conflict.

If you are seeking for security, certainty, your eyes will become closed. And you will be less and less surprised and you will lose the capacity to wonder. Once you lose the capacity to wonder, you have lost religion. Religion is the opening of your wondering heart. Religion is a receptivity for the mysterious that surrounds us.

Man is a doer. Woman is a lover, not a doer. Man is the mind, woman is the heart. Man can create things, but cannot give birth to life. For that, receptivity is needed, receptivity of the earth. The seed falls into it, disappears underground, and one day a new life arises. That’s how a child is born. A womb is needed to give birth to God, OR to give birth to yourself. You have to become a womb.