Wednesday, June 9, 2010

A Small Coin




















Was pleasantly struck by the following passage in Peter Matthiessen´s phenomenal travel-meets-Zen book The Snow Leopard today. "It is related that Sakyamuni once dismissed as of small consequence a feat of levitation on the part of a disciple, and cried out in pity for a yogin by the river who had wasted twenty years of his human existence in learning how to walk on water, when the ferryman might have taken him across for a small coin..."

Neil Young - Cripple Creek Ferry MP3
Delmore Brothers - Brown´s Ferry Blues MP3
Bum - Your Disciple MP3
Cuban Heels - Walk On Water MP3
Posted by at
Labels: , , , ,

3 comments:

Private Beach said...

You didn't include Chris De Burgh's wise advice: "Don't Pay the Ferryman" (till you get to the other side).

June 9, 2010 at 5:38 PM
Ramone666 said...

Please say you´re kidding.

June 9, 2010 at 5:46 PM
One Mans Treasure said...

There's another version of that tale where two yogis are waiting for the ferryman, who charges a penny. One gets impatient and walks, floats or hovers across the water to the other side. A passerby thinks it was remarkable but the other yogi sniffs, "it was only worth a penny".

June 9, 2010 at 6:01 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)