Buddha Soup

  A Zen student came to Bankei and said: “Master, I have an ungovernable temper — how can I cure it?”

“Show me this temper,” said Bankei, “it sounds fascinating.”

“I haven’t got it right now,” said the student, “so I can’t show it to you.”

“Well then” said Bankei, “bring it to me when you have it.”

“But I can’t bring it just when I happen to have it,” protested the student. “It arises unexpectedly, and I would surely lose it before I got it to you.”

“In that case,” said Bankei, “it cannot be part of your true nature. If it were, you could show it to me at any time. When you were born you did not have it, and your parents did not give it to you — so it must come into you from the outside. I suggest that whenever it gets into you, you beat yourself with a stick until the temper can’t stand it, and runs away.”

[The full story can be found in The unborn: the life and teaching of Zen Master Bankei, 1622-1693 by Bankei , Normal Waddell, translator.]

The first step in an understanding of Buddhism and its integration into the West is an appreciation of the life story of Siddhattha Gautama. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE, but more recent opinion dates his death to between 486 and 483 BCE or, according to some, between 411 and 400 BCE.

Gautama, also known as Śākyamuni (“Sage of the Śākyas”), is the primary figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are understood by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition, and first committed to writing about 400 years later.

“A Call to Compassion” is the story of Fr. Michael Bassano and his work at the Wat Prabat Nampu Temple in Lopburi, Thailand. How better to discuss Compassion than to focus on compassionate acts without focus on the Buddhist source? In fact, the fountain of this deep compassion is a Maryknoll priest, who sees in Buddha, and his own tradition, the well of Compassion, and draws deeply from it.