Core of Religion

I read a zen story and very much glad to share this now here.

Ryokan was a great lover of children. As might be expected of such a character as he was, he himself was a child. He was the child Jesus speaks about. He was so innocent that it was almost unbelievable that a man can be so innocent. He had no cunning, no cleverness. He was so innocent that people used to think that he was a little mad.

He liked to play with children. He played hide-and-seek, he played tamari, hand-ball, too. One evening it was his turn to hide, and he hid himself well under a straw stack in the field. It was growing darker and the children, not being able to locate him, left the field. Early in the following morning, a farmer came and had to remove the straw stack to begin his work. Finding Ryokan there, he exclaimed, ’Oh Ryokan-sama! What are you doing here?’

The master answered, ’Hush! Don’t talk so loud, the children will find me.’

The whole night under that straw he is waiting for the children! Such innocence is Zen. And such innocence is divine. Such innocence knows no distinctions between good and bad, knows no distinctions between this world and that, knows no distinction between this and that. Such innocence is what suchness is. And this suchness is the innermost core of religion.