There were several astoundingly insightful and inspiring responses. I picked the top four - here they are (in no particular order).
Sukhmandir Kaur Khalsa, CA (http://sikhism.about.com/)
Because he had not achieved total awareness. Think for instance of a ninja master who is able to jump through a moving fan. He has to be absolutely aware.
I've known a few people with heightened awareness, I was aware enough to catch on to the fact that they were aware of something I had not yet become aware of, like an approaching car and the person in it, a half mile away.
Once when I had first learned breath of fire I was doing it for 31 minutes sitting out in the woods while some friends were doing some winching with a jeep pickup truck which had a come along on the front bumper trying to pull out a tree stump. Suddenly the wench broke and the truck sprang back several feet.
In an instant of awareness I swear I levitated, I moved instantly (snap your fingers) without changing position (sitting in lotus) over to my left as the truck flew back in that same instant to where I had been sitting. That was not an isolated incident.
A master would be in that state at all times. We window-shop, she owns the store. Continual uninterrupted awareness is a big key to the whole master concept.
The master in this case was aware that the student was unaware of the umbrella. Also the student had way too much ego worrying about the outcome.
Rob Abbott, NC
In that one moment, he was living in the future with anticipation ignoring the present. To be a true master one can only live in the present not wasting time in the past which cannot be changed and the future which you cannot predict nor control. The only moment you can control is the present.
I see the umbrella being included in the surroundings of the present moment and he was unaware of its position.
Gurpreet Hothi, NC
The mind projected itself into future, through hopes/expectations, and thus missed out on the present. The present was the misty and breezy weather, of which the Master was aware, and thus prompted an act in the present, i.e. securing an umbrella.
Inka (the Master, NOT!) got caught up in the expectation of being declared a Master and so busily projected himself in this future and thus neglected living/acting in the present. Sehaj was still eluding this seeker.
Enlightenment is when there is transcendence of even the recognition of enlightenment (from other and even oneself). There is just being, nothing more. No dwelling on what happened in the past to the ego-self, or projecting hopes/expectations for the ego-self into the future. Only acting in the present.
In the present, there is the immaculate mind devoid of egocentricity. As soon as the past and future are brought in, the mind becomes tainted by relating to past failures and successes of the time-bound false-self, and acts from this falsehood and loses the focus on the present. Actions, good/holy or bad/evil, arising from the false self are ALL false.
Siri Kirpal Kaur, OR
Yogi Bhajan always used to say, "If you love me, don't question me; if you question me, don't love me." The student does not become a Master until he or she knows the Master's mind without question.
1 comment:
More Morals for Inka:
~~~~~ Jagjinder Singh
When Inka was asked by his master about the position of purple umbrella, he could not remember it, because he was not fully aware of his thoughts/actions/surroundings. A Master of Zen is always awakened and has total awareness around him
~~~~~ Anonymous (tongue-in-cheek)
You gots to know where the purple umbrellas is if you wants to be the Massa.
~~~~~ Abinashi
At first I thought poor Inka must be lacking some psychic power or insight. Then the answer appeared to be much more simple - he merely realized that his attention to the present moment - particularly to the details in his environment was not sharp enough to be Master. He was so preoccupied with his mission - that he failed to note the purple umbrella and its location in the Masters room.
~~~~~ Leon Pollack
inka was so attached and focused on becoming master that he failed to notice whether there was such an unusal object as a purple umbrella. inka was unable to immediately say with certainty whether there was or wasn't an umbrella, let alone it's location. all this because of his attachment to outcome. ego had blinded him. he certainly wasn't ready, especially if he already was looking forward to next year.
~~~~~ Gurvinderpal Singh
well the funny thing is that
if the monk had realized or been aware of the purple umbrella,
he woudl of thought why does my master have an umbrella, how
would the rain affect him...
~~~~~ Sheridan Mahoney
Cool! I was somewhere along the lines of - "the umbrella is neither on the right nor the left - right and left and relative positions, and would appear one way to those of us with our backs to it, and another to those facing it. But, whenever I try to come up with these morals, I always feel a little disappointed in myself, because immediately I find myself trying
to come up with the "right" answer. Thanks for sending them out though - it's good to get a view into some of the hoops my mind tends to jump through! It's good exercise :)
~~~~~Anonymous
I went for a run this morning. I like running -- it's a very real race, every time, for me, I always think that if I run just a little faster & a little farther, I'll stay ahead of death just that little bit longer. Death likes to run with me - I don't know why. H'e a pretty poor running partner, though - he rarely talks, and \mostly he just hangs back just behind me, where I can't really see him, but I still know he's there - you know?
Even though death is a crummy running partner (did I mention that he likes to remind me about Jim Fixx? Or that I'm only four years younger now than my father was when he died? It's all part of his 'Hey I'm death!' schtick -- I don't let it bother me) I still talk to him as we run -- cause, you khow, I don't want to be a crappy running partner just because he is. So today we were running by a church - one of those nice, huge Baptist churches you find in the south -- plenty of stained glass, a huge parking lot, and an indoor basketball court. I really like the idea of those courts. Makes me wish I could be a Baptist, just to get some hoops in in the winter.
As we were running by the church, dodging people in itchy church pants, death some said something interesting -- about how, in HIS humble opinion, that crack in the sidewalk (he pointed to a particular crack -- just a plain 'ole crack, nothing special) had as much meaning, and was invested with as much power, as that giant church beside it. He said it in kind of a sly, but not really mean voice - if you know what I mean? Like he was just telling me something he thought I ought to know, but just didn't get.
I didn't answer him right away - I was thinking about a conversation you and I had about ants, once, on a sunny sidewalk. I think this maybe kind of pissed him off a little, because I didn't answer right away, you know? He's really kind of a prickly asshole, sometimes. So after about a minute he just sighs, and says - "It's just like that stupid blue umbrella." -- then he blows on by me and runs away, like he always does. What an asshole he can be.
Still - I wonder what he meant by that?
~~~~~ Willem Wittstamm
Why the poor monk was rich? He had a master! So he learned about Gur
Prassad:
He had been through the Ekonkar, had realized the Sat Nam, had brought
it into his life with Kartha Purkh, then opened himself up with
Nirboah & Nirvair, had experienced Akal Murat and Ajuni, was blissed
by Saibang ...
You guess what he had not been ready to understand?
May the long time sun shine upon you
~~~~~ Eric Winger (comment on morals)
Bah, all answers of master-want-to-be's.
A quan like that deserves many weeks, if not months of contemplation. So none of the answers below, assuming everyone received the email at the same time, could possibly have been thought through enough to be wise.
Better answer #1. The question isn't about the future at all, it's about which side of the master's door the monk stands on. A door has two sides, it has a right and a left side. That changes based on what side of the door you stand on. If you are standing on the outside looking in, and the umbrella is on your right, you are unwise and not the master. Why? Because the master is on the other side of the door and sees the umbrella on the left. So, to be the master, Inka (by the way, that's our dog's name) needs to know he's the master. If he recognized in that instant he looked at the umbrella and almost spoke left or right, then realized he should speak the answer from the master's point of view, he knew he was not enlightened yet.
Even better answer #2. The master knows that because the umbrella's position is relative to the position of the person in relation to the door, there cannot be an absolute answer. So the correct answer is both. Whereas Inka started to answer left or right, then realized his error.
Finally, a truly wise person would recognize that since its only been a couple days since the question was presented, it's clear that my answers are complete crap. :)
ps - Assuming the room had a roof, why did the master who was living only in the present care about an umbrella?
Post a Comment