Love, Zen, and the old woman of the mountains

[Kristopher]

~

“Yama-uba” is one of the Buddhist plays thoroughly saturated with deep thought, especially of Zen. It was probably written by a Buddhist priest to propagate the teaching of Zen. It is often misinterpreted, and most No-play No-lovers miss the real point of the play.

Yama-uba, literally “the old woman of the mountains,” represents the principle of love secretly moving in every one of us.

Usually we are not conscious of it and are abusing it all the time. Most of us imagine that love is something beautiful to look at, young, delicate, and charming. But in fact she is not, for she works hard, unnoticed by us and yet ungrudgingly; what we notice is the superficial result of her labor, and we think it beautiful – which is natural, for the work of love ought to be beautiful.

But love herself, like a hard-working peasant woman, looks rather worn out; from worry about others her face is full of wrinkles, her hair is white. She has so many knotty problems presented for her solution. Her life is a series of pains, which, however, she gladly suffers. She travels from one end of the world to another, knowing no rest, no respite, no interruption.

Love in this phase, that is, from the point of view of her untiring labor, is fitly represented as Yama-uba, the old lady of the mountains.

[Gonzo]

... But love herself, like a hard-working peasant woman, looks rather worn out; from worry about others her face is full of wrinkles, her hair is white. She has so many knotty problems presented for her solution. Her life is a series of pains, which, however, she gladly suffers. She travels from one end of the world to another, knowing no rest, no respite, no interruption.

Love in this phase, that is, from the point of view of her untiring labor, is fitly represented as Yama-uba, the old lady of the mountains.

To me this smacks of compassion, and in that regard, I prefer these comments by La Gorda:

The Nagual had taught us all to be warriors. He said that a warrior had no compassion for anyone. For him, to have compassion meant that you wished the other person to be like you, to be in your shoes, and you lent a hand just for that purpose. You did that to Pablito.The hardest thing in the world is for a warrior to let others be. When I was fat I worried because Lidia and Josefina did not eat enough. I was afraid that they would get ill and die from not eating.
I did my utmost to fatten them and I meant only the best. The impeccability of a warrior is to let them be and to support them in what they are. That means, of course, that you trust them to be impeccable warriors themselves."

"But what if they are not impeccable warriors?" I said.

"Then it's your duty to be impeccable yourself and not say a word," she replied. "The Nagual said that only a sorcerer who sees and is formless can afford to help anyone. That's why he helped us and made us what we are. You don't think that you can go around picking people up off the street to help them, do you?"

Don Juan had already put me face to face with the dilemma that I could not help my fellow beings in any way. In fact, to his understanding, every effort to help on our part was an arbitrary act guided by our own self-interest alone.

[Kristopher]

~

Smack, smack, smack.

As you know, I’m the cradle of compassion, the almighty giver of love and light.

... But love herself, like a hard-working peasant woman, looks rather worn out; from worry about others her face is full of wrinkles, her hair is white. She has so many knotty problems presented for her solution. Her life is a series of pains, which, however, she gladly suffers. She travels from one end of the world to another, knowing no rest, no respite, no interruption.

Love in this phase, that is, from the point of view of her untiring labor, is fitly represented as Yama-uba, the old lady of the mountains.

To me this smacks of compassion, and in that regard, I prefer these comments by La Gorda:

The Nagual had taught us all to be warriors. He said that a warrior had no compassion for anyone. For him, to have compassion meant that you wished the other person to be like you, to be in your shoes, and you lent a hand just for that purpose. You did that to Pablito.The hardest thing in the world is for a warrior to let others be. When I was fat I worried because Lidia and Josefina did not eat enough. I was afraid that they would get ill and die from not eating.
I did my utmost to fatten them and I meant only the best. The impeccability of a warrior is to let them be and to support them in what they are. That means, of course, that you trust them to be impeccable warriors themselves."

"But what if they are not impeccable warriors?" I said.

"Then it's your duty to be impeccable yourself and not say a word," she replied. "The Nagual said that only a sorcerer who sees and is formless can afford to help anyone. That's why he helped us and made us what we are. You don't think that you can go around picking people up off the street to help them, do you?"

Don Juan had already put me face to face with the dilemma that I could not help my fellow beings in any way. In fact, to his understanding, every effort to help on our part was an arbitrary act guided by our own self-interest alone.

[Kristopher]

~

G, please delete the multiple entries. It seems the nagual found my replies so precious it decided to post them thrice.