Cultural Observation: Zen Master's Shoes

A careful observation will reveal that the feet of Zen people are also interesting. Zen masters wear shoes on their feet in summer. They are made of a piece of grey cloth and have six big gaps on their shoes. It must be cool to wear such shoes.

I asked: can I wear such shoes?

The Zen master gave me a deep look. He smiled and nodded.

He saw my expectations. He sat down on the arm of the corridor and took off one. Let me try it on.

Fit, light and comfortable. It can feel the sense of feet on the ground. Hard and firm leather shoes, like a lack of eyes, at the moment, the feet also have a heart, with a subtle experience.

It feels good. Take off your shoes and give them to Zen master.

I noticed that the shoes of Zen master's feet were clean. Although it is a pair of grey cloth shoes, it is beautiful. Summer monk shoes, simple, probably for saving cloth. Because frugality is the duty of a monk.

Why do monk shoes need six holes?

Zen master said: the six hole of the monk shoes is to let the monks "bow their heads and see them."

Bow is modest and courteous, see broken is to see through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind six, it is to see through the color, smell, touch six dust, and break the six circles, to explore corruption, slow and suspicious, six troubles. An unremarkable pair of monk shoes has such a broad meaning that people have to admire the fine and broadness of the Dharma.

Later, I went to the monastery circulation place to invite a pair of monk shoes. When you wear it, think low and see it through.

Hong Yi is a legendary figure in modern Buddhism. In his letters to his students, master Hongyi spoke of shoes. It seems that someone is going to make shoes for Hong Yi's master. Therefore, the master of Hongyi said in detail in his letter, "what kind of shoes should be done and how big?" and said that he always wears three pairs of shoes at the same time. When you wear a pair of Buddha, you can wear a pair of clothes and wear them when you go to the toilet. From the wearing of three pairs of shoes, we can see how rigorous the life of Hongyi master is.

A person owns three pairs of simple cloth shoes, can not be counted as luxury. From this point of view, the master of Hongyi should be an aestheticism. He lived in an aesthetic manner. If this is not the case, where can I wear a pair of shoes?

A few months ago, when he had dinner with his friends, he suddenly tested me on a shoe related problem.

If a pair of new shoes on your feet is accidentally squeezed out by the train door, and then the train is about to start, what will you do with the other shoe on your feet?

I replied freely: there is no way to buy another pair.

I mean, you can't travel on one foot, it's a poetic and realistic question.

He laughed and told a story of a Zen master.

A Zen master once took a train and a shoe fell to the rails. At this point, the train has already started, and shoes can no longer be recovered. The Zen master hurriedly took off the other shoe on his feet and threw it to the side of the first shoe.

The neighbor's passenger puzzled and asked, "why do you do this?

Jackson said: "so the poor people who pass by the tracks can get a pair of shoes.

I was dumbfounded.

This is the difference between Zen and laity.

When a common man meets a thing, he thinks more about his own situation.

How to deal with a pair of shoes is also an opportunity to cultivate Zen spirit.