[Music]
The Zen Monk
I'll tell you a story about what happened.
There was once one man,
and he was married, he had two children.
But he had...
he was very, very detached, very dispassionate.
Very dispassionate man.
And
many things happened.
People went and stole things from his house,
and he didn't mind.
People say,
'They took all your... they took your donkey!'
He says, 'Ah, it's okay, they can have it,
maybe they need it. It's okay.'
He would never...
Anything happened, he came home
and found
his wife in bed with his friend.
He said, 'Hey, George, how are you doing?
Ah! Okay, okay,
never mind, don't worry.
No, no, no, don't hurry, don't hurry, it's okay.
I will go for a walk.' And everything like this.
And he was like
nothing is troubling this man.
And it is said that,
he became so
dispassionate;
then also, even his children they came and they say,
'Father, what kind of father are you?
You know, the people are calling you a fool,
you are blessing them and all this type of thing.
We don't want you anymore,
we don't want to call you father anymore.'
'Oh, yes, you are quite right.
It is okay. I'm very sorry about this.
But if you enjoy to call this man father, it's good,
I think he is a very nice person.
Call him father, it's good, good.
I'll also call him father, it's okay.'
So nothing could touch, could rock him.
He was just so open, so generous,
so detached somehow.
In the end he had to leave home.
Because everything left him.
He went to live in a monastery
up in a mountain.
In the monastery, very simple place;
his job each day there was to go
and there was like a japanese garden,
like sand, and he would just go
and he would just take a rake
and he would move in the sand and clean,
pure thing, like this, like a Zen
movement.
And then after he finished he did his washing
and all these things he had to do.
Then he would spend his day
sitting on this rock.
Just sit in meditation.
Very happy, very happy; happy, happy, happy.
And it is said that
he was so empty
of person
that he was almost invisible.
Sometimes people would go in the garden and sit
right next to him
and they are talking private things;
and they don't notice him, because he is so empty.
So it's said that news came
to the king
of demons.
The king of demons
heard about this mortal
human being
who is about to enter
into nirvana itself.
To pure... state of pure bliss.
And he said, 'No, no, we can't afford this.
No one from that world should come to nirvana
as long as we are here.'
So he called
three of his most,
what you may call, attentive demons.
[Hands clapping] 'Come!'
Fu, fu, fu... They arrive.
'My lord...' they come.
And he says, 'Yes, you have heard of this
monk?
Almost invisible monk?'
'Yes, my lord. We have heard.'
'Aah. We cannot allow for a mortal
to slip into immortality, like this.
You go and find something
about him.'
He said, 'But actually, we were the ones
who have been following him, my lord.
We did everything to try and really
to break him.
We are the ones who cause his friend
to go and stay with his wife.
But he is not attached to anything.'
'He must be attached to something.'
'Yeah, I was the one who saw his children.
And his children told him,
"We don't want you as a father,
you are not good enough."
And it did not trouble him.'
'Yeah, but there must be something.
Go! Now! At once!
Pay attention!
So immediately, off you go.'
Pfum! Pfum! Pfum!
They all went.
So the monk has finished his nice, beautiful garden
and he is sitting quite peacefully
on this rock.
And suddenly...
Pfup. Pfup. Pfup.
Three spirits come.
And they are watching him.
But he doesn't move;
he is so detached.
Day one come, day two,
nothing, he hasn't moved.
Day three, nothing they can find.
One week, two weeks, nothing they found.
Then one of them,
sitting very close to the monk
begins to go into meditation also.
[Laughter]
So the others come and go, 'Hey, hey!'
[Laughter]
'Don't sit so close.'
[Laughter]
'Come, come!'
They sit and they are watching him.
So it's said now
this monk is sitting under there,
make his beautiful painting;
that was his daily movement.
And he is sitting under a huge tree,
huge pine tree.
Sitting there.
And nothing is happening.
One day
wind passes.
[Mooji makes sound of wind blowing]
And a little twig,
because of the wind, a little twig...
[Falling sound and movement]
drops inside the sand garden.
Immediately the monk...
Looks, 'Aargh!'
And he goes over, and he leans over,
'Ahh, take it, take it.'
Pfaa! [Throws]
He gets back into meditation.
So the little demons, they look at each other.
[Laughter]
'Ahaa!'
So immediately
they start to dance in the sand.
'To to to, to, to to to to.'
And the monk became very, very angry.
Very angry.
He lost his invisibility,
became bright green, basically;
and shouting, 'Aaaargh!'
Everybody wonders, 'What happened? What happened to him?'
Like this.
This is how he lost his peace.
So the question is,
'What is your twig?'
This is what the mind is here to find,
'What is your twig?'
Meaning the thing
that will get to you.
Because he has been growing up with you.
He knows your moves
and he will press the buttons,
'Hahahaha, try this one.'
Are you strong enough?
Are you clear enough?
This is a divine game.
And every part of it is good.
Every part of it in some way
is in service to you.
But you must be smart enough to know that.
Even the unpleasant things; you will use them.
Now you've come to a beautiful place,
because you can see from you own place,
'But I'm doing nothing at all.'
Maybe the mind will say to you,
'But you didn't do anything for it.
You wait, you think you can stay like that?'
Or he may say,
'But how can I keep this?'
And you will think,
'Yes, Mooji, how can I keep this?'
And I will say,
How are you keeping it now?
You cannot keep it.
If you can keep it, you will lose it.
[Music]
The question is, 'What is your twig?'
'The thing that gets to you?'
The mind knows your moves and will press the buttons.
This is the divine game.
Every part of it is good. Every part of it is in service to you.
But you must be smart enough to know that.
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