An Epic Tale, Mahabharata

"Lying on the bed of arrows, Bhisma thinks of me, and my mind is gone to him, to that repository of knowledge. Strive for truth. Be good." --The Mahabharata

 Many here in the West are familiar with the Bagvad Gita, a famous dialog between Krsna and Arjuna; however fewer are aware that it is actually a text contained within the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is an epic tale. It is the longest of poems, stretching out more than 100,000 verses!

According to tradition, its author is the sage Vyasa, the Arranger; however current scholarship has determined that the text was compiled over a lengthy period of time. It reached its current form about the fourth century CE. Along side the Ramayana, the Mahabharata is considered  two of the major epics in Hinduism, and sometimes compared to the great texts of other faiths
During the medieval period in Europe, the poem existed in two major forms, one northern and one southern. It was re-told in a Tamil version.

The central hero of the story is Yudhisthira, the son of Dharma personified as a deity. It is divided into 18 parts and is often acted out in a play throughout India and else where. It is a fluid and contemporary part of modern Hinduism. In the 1980's there was a version presented on television which was very popular.
 The origins of the story lay in the non-Brahminical social groups of the Aryavarta, especially the Ksatiya aristocrats, giving some understanding of their lives. The epic was overshadowed by the orthodox Brahmans and given its ideology by the same.
In a version told by Indian author, R.K. Narayan, the tale is shortened to its most critical elements and was published in London in 1978.

While the story may be enjoyed on many levels, it is an allegory and a metaphor for the human plane, the ethics of the higher and lower selves and the struggle between the two, and forms a profound philosophy. The story's central theme is a struggle over the rulership of a kingdom by two clans. It ends with the death of Krsna and the gradual uncovering of his divine identity.

Dogen and the Teacher

"Perfectionists are never satisfied with who they are, or others but are always reaching for a goal and never enjoying the imperfect moment they're in." Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore writes in his book, The Soul's Religion, that one of the goals of the 'educated' is to become perfected, more complete, more whole in themselves. He writes that we must not forget for all the importance of spirit, that bodies are needed; spirits inhabit bodies and an everyday life is lived from them, but what will we, the spirit-body learn, and how will we learn so as to realize the "perfected self"?
In the everyday, complex world of science and technology, the role of pain, of trial and ordeal are seen as experiences to be eliminated, controlled, suppressed; yet Moore argues that these experiences, these moments are vital to a human education. It is experience, simple experience, finally and not intellectual achievement that will bring around a perfected soul, the one which is completed, whole and peaceful.

Zen master, Suzuki in quoting another, Dogen, goes on to say "you will be even the teacher of Shakyamuni Buddha." As bodies are souls whole and complete, we learn in the Dharmakaya that as Suzuki also repeats, 'when you realize Buddha nature, you are the teacher,' so then the best teacher is the one who does not teach, yet who leads, guides, experiences the lessons of his students, and his students experience the lessons of the teacher. In this way teaching is profound with benefit. It is a far and away from the experience, in which some have believed, that the teacher is the expert who pours knowledge into otherwise empty heads.

Thus as Thomas Moore notes from his own life experience, imperfection is a good and valued part of education, of both the student and the teacher. In the best moments of teaching, an alchemy or a deep moment of newness of creation, a mystery transpires between two or more persons engaged in this process of experience and perfection. "When a teacher evokes the deep process of imparting and learning subtle aspects of life's mysteries, the teaching goes on." And like any creative activity, teaching "happens best when a muse is present, initiating something far deeper" in the exchange.