What a capacity of these great Zen masters.
The moment the samurai asks him his question,
He already knows what he needs to do.
He quickly establishes a situation,
A sacred trap,
So the teaching may impact on the warrior in the most direct and powerful way.
And it is worth mentioning that he does so by risking his life.
As for the samurai's question,
It seems very legitimate to me.
This man probably would have killed many people,
And it is not surprising that he were uneasy about the consequences of such actions.
In many religions and spiritual philosophies,
There is this belief about heaven and hell,
Which implies a posteriori judgment to be held accountable for past actions.
According to Buddhism,
Which is the religion that frames this story,
You may reincarnate in one of the lowest realms,
Where there is terrible suffering.
The wise man,
With great elegance and compassion,
Makes us understand that we do not have to wait until we die to know what is happening to our soul,
Suggesting that it is more important to know what is happening to us at this very moment,
Where we can intervene.
He brings the samurai to this plane and holds him accountable for his mental state,
For his attitude at the present moment.
This seems wonderful to me.
If our behavior or our attitude generates within us anger,
Fear,
Nervousness,
Greed in general,
It leaves us feeling unwell.
We are going through hell.
If,
On the contrary,
Our attitude leads us to a happy,
Harmonious state of calm and joy,
Then we are getting closer or we are already in heaven.
Obviously,
There is a scale of happiness,
From noisy and fleeting happiness to a peak of rapturous ecstasy,
Or much better,
To a stable state of joy.
The wise master guided the samurai in his main mission,
That of finding a way to frequently inhabit a paradisiacal state.
And you?
What do you frequent more often in these days?
Paradise or hell?
In any case,
I hope you are determined to make the necessary changes so that heaven turns into your most frequented space.
