Do you know what it means? Old Buddhist question, do you understand the words and do you understand the meaning?
The great Indian prince Naropa was tops in his field, of high renown, and everybody granted him great respect and obedience, no one wanted to tangle with him because he was the greatest of the scholars at Nalanda University and he would decimate their puny arguments, yeah, he had proven himself a great scholar and great teacher, all that.
One day he was sitting in his room and a really ugly woman appeared before him. He was revolted by her, she was that ugly!
She asked him, “Do you understand the words and the meaning of what you are reading?”
He answered, “I understand the words,” and stopped there.
An amazing thing happened! The woman began to laugh and suddenly she transformed in Naropa’s eyes to not being ugly at all, yeah, she looked rather beautiful all of a sudden.
Naropa thought to himself, “This is amazing! If she’s this happy with my answer then I should make her even more happy!”
And he said to the woman, “AND, I understand the meaning!”
Now another change occurred. The woman stopped laughing, the corners of her mouth turned down, and she began to weep, and she became even more ugly than before.
Naropa was perplexed! And even more perplexed when the woman accused him of lying, the reason for her sadness.
Long story short, Naropa realized the woman was right. He left Nalanda University, left his high seat of prestige and sought a teacher who could help him understand the meaning. Well that’s a whole other story, Naropa’s meeting with the crazy Tilopa.
When I was very young I read a lot of books. I honestly believed, as I entered adolescence, that I was very prepared for life because I read so much.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Turned out experience had little to do with reading about someone else’s experience. Oh well.
Words and meaning. It’s a tricky thing, I believe. So easy to get caught in the safety of the familiar, and with all the best intentions in the world proclaim understanding when there is none. Good intentions, ha ha.
Naropa gave everything up because there was something he wanted more. The old woman couldn’t have forced him to do this, it was his choice. It was a sacrifice, but I would imagine at the time he didn’t see it that way. My own fancy sees him as a very fortunate individual — he experienced all the gratification of scholarship and success but was able to put all that away when confronted with his own ignorance and an opportunity to remedy that ignorance. Guess you could say he had good karma.
*****
Happy Friday to all. Rained most of the week here in the Big Apple but today was sunny and mild, hooray!
Here’s some Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, courtesy of DaptoneRecords.
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… in Colorado. A lot of the beat poets lectured there, Ginsberg, Corso, Burroughs.
…as is sometimes said. What we think we understand may only be understood in the context of present knowledge and present point of view.
When a new point of view becomes available, jump at it. t may be the way to wisdom…or at least the wisdom available until a new point of view becomes available.
another diary, and reminded me of this gem…