"What is Zen?"
Meher Mount
Your Friday photo…
The following story of the Zen master, who visited Meher Mount in the 1960s, was told by co-founder and lifetime caretaker Agnes Baron (1907-1994) and is shared by long-time volunteer Sam Ervin.
The 1940s photo is of the guesthouse where Avatar Meher Baba met with with His followers in the Baba Room in 1956. This is the building referred to in the story.*
“What is Zen?
In my hands is a hoe. I neither assert nor do I negate. I use it!”
In about 1960, Agnes Baron went to see a visiting Japanese Zen Master who was giving a talk somewhere in Southern California. She liked his presentation very much, and related one of the comments that struck her.
In response to the question, “What is Zen?” he said, “In my hands is a hoe. I neither assert nor do I negate. I use it!” while making a hoeing motion with his hands.
After the talk, Agnes approached him and said to him, “Neither assert nor negate, but come. Come to Meher Mount.” He immediately agreed, and spent a few nights at Meher Mount.
Agnes said that when he came into her house at Meher Mount and saw a large photo of Meher Baba, the Zen Master asked, “Is that the Landlord?” Agnes responded, “Yes.” He then put his hands together and bowed to Meher Baba’s picture.
He asked if he could help prepare dinner, and Agnes was very impressed by how quickly and efficiently he chopped all the vegetables.
The next day, a few volunteers arrived to help Agnes nail new tar paper shingles on the guesthouse roof. This was the house Meher Baba had stayed in for much of the day on August 2, 1956.
Again, the Zen Master wanted to help shingle the roof. Agnes was reluctant, because she said he had a “pot belly” and kneeling to hammer in the nails could be hard for him. Also, she doubted he had experience with this kind of work.
She described how he very carefully placed the first shingle and slowly began to nail it on, and she thought, “O my God, we’ll never get this done as slowly as he’s going.”
Then he gradually picked up the pace, and soon he was keeping up with the others and even surpassing their speed while precisely placing the shingles. She felt this was a demonstration of his Zen Buddhism in action.
~Sam Ervin, Board President & Long-Time Volunteer
Note
*The guesthouse and Baba Room burned in the 1985 New Life (Ferndale) Fire. The only remaining artifacts of the room after the fire were the chimney and fireplace, now called Baba’s Fireplace. The recently completed Darshan Courtyard next to Baba’s Fireplace evokes that space and is open to welcome visitors.
