In the rue Daguerre again today, passed the old books/new accessories shop. I see stenciled on the window: commerce equitable.
When « hungry ghost » « delusion » is transformed, it becomes equanimity. An enriching presence.
Maybe next time I’ll go inside.
Hungry ghost tales (II)
About the Author: zenscribe
Enseignante Zen et poète, Sensei Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell est née et a grandi à Minneapolis, aux Etats-Unis. Arrivée en France en 1981 pour étudier la littérature et l’histoire, elle y est restée, s’installant à Paris, où elle élève ses deux enfants et gagne sa vie en tant que journaliste.
The Zen teacher and poet Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei was born and raised in Minneapolis, but came to France in 1981 to study literature and history and has lived in Paris ever since, raising her two children and making a living as a journalist.
Not a question of better or worse, of "buddha" being "better" than "hungry ghost." As hungry ghosts, we experience it like that, though. Which is what gives us so much trouble. The truth is that we can never be "better" because there is no "better" in the sense that we think of as "better"!
However…
After the traditional image of the hungry ghosts anguishing before a fabulous banquet because they have no way to get their long forks into their mouths, there follows another image: Same banquet, same figures, but now they are each feeding another and being fed by another with their long forks.
That’s their liberation.
Well spoken, sensei!
And I wonder. What if a hungry ghost (like me) bears witness of his craving and of his frustrations. Is he still a hungry ghost? Or is he something better? A Buddha?
And what is liberation? To be a hungry ghost, and to be perfectly all right with that, or to be a hungry ghost no more?
Bearing witness to whatever arises.
What is equanimity?