Originally Posted by
Yugen
Reminds me of Taisen Deshimaru's experience with the Kyosaku, which I share below - I think you will enjoy it!
After hearing that the essence of Mahayana Buddhism was to be found in Zen, I went to the Engakuji Temple, a Rinzai Temple, in Kamakura for a sesshin. We got up every morning at 2 A.M. and did zazen until 6 A.M. And at night there was no sleeping. We did zazen outside with the mosquitoes. And then the kyosaku - I received the stick from morning until night, and my body had turned all red. Five days went by. I kept my patience. But then, on the sixth day, the Kyosaku-man, who must have been sleepy like everyone else, hit me with the stick - not on the shoulders, but on the top of the head. I got angry and jumped up and hit him back. We fought. Now, in Rinzai Temples, as everyone faces each other while in zazen, they all saw the fight. Everyone jumped up in order to stop me. But I was a champion swordsman at the time, and I had no difficulty keeping them off me. Of course, this has nothing to do with religion; it is just violence. Anyway, I had had enough, and so I went off to see the Master - who was in his room sleeping - and I woke him up and told him that I wished to leave, that I wanted to stop zazen. I told him all about the incident which had just taken place, and he laughed. “In the history of Zen,” the Master said, “no one but you has ever attacked the Kyosaku-man.”
In fact, this incident became famous - so much so that Japanese Rinzai monks were scared of me. And my own Master, Kodo Sawaki, would always warn the Kyosaku-man, “Watch out for Deshimaru when you hit him.” Consequently, everyone was afraid of me, and so I never got the kyosaku during zazen. The Kyosaku-men always kept clear of me. This is not so good. Later I came to regret that all this had happened.
Gassho
Yugen
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