Sitting

 It used to happen that seekers would come to Gautam Buddha. A great philosopher of those  times, Maulingaputta, came with his five hundred  disciples. He himself was a well-known teacher, and he had come to challenge Gautam Buddha to a debate; that's why he had brought all his disciples. 

In India it was a common phenomenon that has now disappeared ... it was so beautiful - but now to challenge somebody seems to be a way to create enemies. For centuries it was not considered that way in India; challenging was simply a matter of coming face to face, with inquiring, penetrating questions, and finding out who has gone deeper. The one who went deeper was victorious. It was a very loving phenomenon, very friendly. 

Maulingaputta said to Gautam Buddha, "I have come here to pay my respects to you and also to challenge you." 

Buddha said, "I love your challenge. But you will have to fulfill a condition which I have been keeping my whole life. I cannot make any exception." 

At that time there were ten thousand monks, disciples of Buddha. Maulingaputta said, "Any condition, and I am ready to accept it." 

So Buddha said, "The condition is that you have to sit by my side for two years, silently -- no question, no answer. After two years I will tell you, now you can question." 

Bankei's lineage comes from Mahakashyap. Mahakashyap was a rare being, nobody had ever heard him speak. He never asked any question, he never answered anybody, even a hello was too much. People simply passed by his side as if he was not. He had a special tree where he used to sit whenever Buddha was speaking. When Buddha said to Maulingaputta, "You have to sit for two years silently by my side and then you can have any inquiry, any debate, any discussion, any question," there was suddenly a great outburst -- Mahakashyap laughed loudly. 

The whole assembly felt very strange because this man had never talked to anybody, and there was no special reason that he should laugh. 

Maulingaputta said, "Why is this fellow laughing?" 

Buddha said, "You can ask him yourself. He is a rare person, he never speaks. In the twenty years he has been with me he has never asked any question. It is for the first time that suddenly he has exploded in laughter." 

So Maulingaputta asked Mahakashyap, "Why did you laugh?" 

Mahakashyap said, "I laughed because this fellow Gautam Buddha is a tricky guy. He tricked me with the same trick; he told me to sit for two years and I have been sitting for twenty years! Now the desire to question or to debate has been left miles back. So if you want to ask, ask now; otherwise you will be sitting just like me. And there are many other monks who will be witnesses to what I am saying." 

Buddha had a lotus flower in his hand. At that moment he called Mahakashyap and gave the lotus flower to him with the words, "What I have been able to say, I have said to everybody. And what I have not been able to say, I transfer it to you." 

This is called in Zen the transmission of the lamp. Nothing is said. But in twenty years of silence one becomes enlightened oneself. It is not something that Buddha has given. Buddha has simply created a situation. 

Maulingaputta remained silent for two years and he even forgot the time, that two years had passed. It was Buddha who had to remind him, "Maulingaputta, now two years have passed. Come on and confront me." 

He came and touched Gautam Buddha's feet and he said, "I am sorry, I was arrogant. I did not understand what enlightenment is. Now don't make me more ashamed. Just being in silence for two years all thoughts have disappeared. A deep silence reigns inside and I have found myself and the beauty and the truth and the good -- all together in my own being. Now there is no seeking, no search. Mahakashyap was right." 

After touching the feet of Gautam Buddha, he touched the feet of Mahakashyap. It is on this account that Mahakashyap is thought to be the first Zen master. He was a disciple of Buddha, but he started a new tradition, of people who simply sit silently for years.