Cowardice...

"Tokimune is said to have once asked Bukko the National Teacher: 'The worst enemy of our life is cowardice, and how can I escape it?'

Bukko answered, 'Cut off' the source whence cowardice comes.'

Tokimune: 'Where does it come from?'

Bukko: 'It comes from Tokimune himself.'

Tokimune: 'Above all things, cowardice is what I hate most,.and how can it come out of myself?'

Bukko: 'See how you feel when you throw overboard your cherished self known as Tokimune. I will see you again when you have done that.'

Tokimune: 'How can this be done?'

Bukko: 'Shut out all your thoughts.'

Tokimune: 'How can my thoughts be shut out of consciousness?'

Bukko: 'Sit cross-legged in meditation and see into the source of all your thoughts which you imagine as belonging to Tokimune.'

Tokimune: 'I have so much of worldly affairs to look after and it is difficult to find spare moments for meditation.'

Bukko: 'Whatever worldly affairs you are engaged in, take them up as occasions for your inner reflection, and some day you will find out who is this beloved' Tokimune of yours.'"



Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki
Zen Buddhism And Its Influence On Japanese Culture
Kyoto: The Eastern Buddhist Society Otani Buddhist College Showa XIII (1938), p. 40