January 16, 2015
Koan for Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015
3-5 PM, 7528 Jenkin Place
The nun Faxiang often shared her clothing and food, giving the best to the nun Huisu. The other nuns admonished Faxiang, saying, “The nun Huisu is uncultivated and inarticulate. When she wanted to study meditation, no one would give her instruction because she is the worst of idiots. Why don’t you sow the seeds of generosity in a more spiritually worthy field?”
Faxiang responded, “One would have to be a saint to know the spiritual accomplishments of the recipient of donations. I’m a very ordinary person, so I would rather do it this way.”
Later, Huisu sponsored a seven-day meditation retreat with the community. On the third night, when the others arose from meditation, she did not get up, remaining in a deep meditation state until the end of the retreat. It was only then that the other nuns saw Huisu’s extraordinary abilities, and for the first time they understood Faxiang’s insight.
from The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women
ed. by Florence Caplow and Susan Moon