Infinite beauty
by Taisen Deshimaru Roshi
Muso fuku den e
Muso: infinite
What is infinity? Hishiryo (hi: non): thinking without thinking, thinking beyond thinking.
It is not a question of quantity. Personal consciousness is not limited. Don't make categories. This way, creativity and wisdom develop. This is very important.
Muso: non-aspect. non-apparent.
Kodo Sawaki called certain faces muso. Muso is infinite beauty, deep. Some people always smile, others not at all. This is Both are stupid. The appearance of the face is a reflection of the spirit. It is easier to read a face than words. Personal characteristics manifest themselves in the face and in the natural comportment. But few know it and many always try to decorate, to put make-up over their own characteristics.
Through zazen, intuition becomes strong. So you can more easily penetrate the real mind of others, like looking in a mirror."I shall, my father. I would be most grateful if, in time, you would instruct me in Buddhism. I wish to be your disciple, to call you my teacher."
The Noble Teacher looked at his daughter with singular content. At that moment, a bright-faced novice, no more than ten or eleven years old, arrived with a bag full of sutra scrolls slung over his shoulder. He joined his palms to greet them. He was the novice Dharma Lamp, her father's youngest disciple. Dharma Lamp was just returning from Stone Cave Hermitage where he had borrowed the scrolls for his studies. The Noble Teacher told him to rest a little before preparing a simple midday meal for the three of them. The Noble Teacher and Amazing Jewel then sat outside on wooden benches, beneath a roof of leaves. The Noble Teacher asked his daughter to tell him everything that had happened since she had left to marry the King of Cham.
Amazing Jewel did not need to give her father a long-winded account. He already knew the events that had led to her marriage, and like her, he knew and cherished the people and customs of Cham.
