The Key, The Way, The Life

Maddie Cowx sent Chao Chou a provisional entry in her Mad Cow Journals, a modern collection of Public Cases and gave me permission to share it with you.

Case 1. The Key, The Way, The Life

Preface

Lost, gone, disappeared. Mailbox key was right here just a moment ago. Sure it was. So where is it now?

Main Case

Mad cow found the mailbox key attached to some wax paper in which she had wrapped her sandwich. How profound! What would have happened had she swallowed that tooo? It would have been like a red hot iron ball. You can bet she would have tried to vomit it out. Wouldn’t that be full and filling? Talk about entangling! Even the Masters couldn’t best Maddie in her ventures. Is there anyone who wouldn’t want to pass this barrier?

Appreciatory Verse

Lost my boots in transit, baby, pile of smokin’ leather.
I nailed a retread to my feet and prayed for better weather.
Mississippi Half Step
Grateful Dead

Do Not Be Deceived

Students today lack self-confidence; they should not seek externally. As long as you continue to rely upon the methods of the ancestors, you will never be able to distinguish between true and false. Buddhas and the ancient masters are nothing more than the tracks left behind by their teachings. Then come people who pluck a saying out of them, regardless of whether its meaning is clear to them or remains hidden. They become uncertain, look up at the sky and down at the earth, ask others for advice and remain confused all the same.

Buddha’s law requires no effort. It exists in the everyday and has no aim: shitting, pissing, getting dressed, eating, and sleeping when you are tired. The simple-minded may laugh at me, but the wise know better.

You tell the world over, “Whoever practices will become enlightened.” Do not deceive yourselves with this! If anything is to be gained by practice, then it is the fate of birth and death . . . Buddha and the ancient masters were people with no special intention.

Certain blind baldies, to be sure, practice meditation and the observance of rules. They pack up their thoughts and desires and never let go of them; they shun clamor and seek quiet. That has nothing to do with the truth [of Zen]. Such and the like are mere affectations. Do not be deceived!

-Rinzai

Blind baldies are still up to tricks. A different spin than in Rinzai’s day. Not so much recluse/hermit, but Post-Modern pitchmen.

Boys and girls you do not even need a weekend workshop to step into the light. This is “A Better Path to The Power of Now.”

Check this link to the late night huckster style of selling the Dharma. Like all the rest of those fantastic offers there’s always free goodies dangled . . .

wait, there’s even more . . . buy now and get 7 more keys to enlightenment absolutely free. Especially special ’cause you are not going to get the best juicer in the world, the sharpest knife that never dulls.  Not talkin’ slicin’ and dicin’. O.M.G and Yummo! You get it! GET IT NOW

What was that jingle Siffle & Ollie used to sing about Precious Roy?

Precious Roy, Precious Roy
Makin’ lots of suckers
out of girls and boys

I hope this is a web hoax to discredit these guys, but then again . . . Big Mind is a trademarked buzz phrase.