Koan #5
Images are sometimes not shown due to bandwidth/network limitations. Refreshing the page usually helps.
You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
Gessen was an artist monk. Before he would start a drawing or painting he always insisted upon being paid in advance, and his fees were high. He was known as the "Stingy Artist."
A geisha once gave him a commission for a painting. "How much can you pay?" inquired Gessen.
"Whatever you charge," replied the girl, "but I want you to do the work in front of me."
So on a certain day Gessen was called by the geisha. She was holding a feast for her patron.
Gessen with fine brush work did the painting. When it was completed he asked the highest sum of his time.
He received his pay. Then the geisha turned to her patron, saying: "All this artist wants is money. His paintings are fine but his mind is dirty; money has caused it to become muddy. Drawn by such a filthy mind, his work is not fit to exhibit. It is just about good enough for one of my petticoats."
Removing her skirt, she then asked Gessen to do another picture on the back of her petticoat.
"How much will you pay?" asked Gessen.
"Oh, any amount," answered the girl.
Gessen named a fancy price, painted the picture in the manner requested, and went away.
It was learned later that Gessen had these reasons for desiring money:
A ravaging famine often visited his province. The rich would not help the poor, so Gessen had a secret warehouse, unknown to anyone, which he kept filled with grain, prepared for those emergencies.
From his village to the National Shrine the road was in very poor condition and many travellers suffered while traversing it. He desired to build a better road.
His teacher had passed away without realizing his wish to build a temple, and Gessen wished to complete this temple for him.
After Gessen had accomplished his three wishes he threw away his brushes and artist's materials and, retiring to the mountains, never painted again.
>What is your interpretation of this koan?
>What can we learn from it?
pebis :D
>>8015879
essence is concealed
Women will waste money on what is considered fashionable even if they know it is vapid.
Men will earn money doing something that means nothing to them if the end result is necessary and/or honourable.
Quit shilling your Eastern propaganda.
is it really a koan when it looks as some story from a self-help book
but then, considering that they claimed a soviet fairy tail about two frogs in a milkjug to be a koan too...
>>8015879
Let me take a swing. I'll attempt to interpret line by line before a final summary. The first introduces the Koan and strikes me as clear already. Following we should note the importance of the monk asking for the geisha to provide a quote. The significance of this becomes apparent in the following section where we are shown a flaw in the geisha, arrogance. This is planted in reverting the question of pay to the monk without setting a limit. The importance of having the work done before the geisha and patron serves to foreshadow her true intentions. Gessen is presented as having done the expected work evidenced in the "fine brush work". It should also be noted (N.B. kek) that the sum he asks for, while high, is not entirely outrageous as the geisha does not back peddle or dispute the asking, but simply pays. Here we find the true intention of the geisha: the monk was only called upon for her to degrade before her patron. It is unclear to me if the implication is to apply to women in particular or to serve as an example of a cruel person in the archetypal sense. In part the insult opens the story to using the back of her petticoat as a canvas. Again to embarrass the monk by offering such lowly work. When Gessen obliges again for money, the reader is to immediately suspect the geisha's chatter to be true and all the monk cares for is money. This concludes first part of our story. The second part is much clearer with it's intentions. The monk motivations are revealed and we see his true nature. The final line represents perhaps the most important aspect as it weaves the final ties.
To summarize the meaning in full, as far as I am able to see, is a lesson in humility. The monk does not lash out at comments or even go so far as to acknowledge them, knowing this is the geisha’s aim to get a rise out of him. We see his motivations to patience and his selflessness. The monk again shows his humility by casting away the brushes when the work is done. The act is symbolic of casting off the temptation to pride.
In a sentence, be humble and work in a selfless manner towards the good, because knowing your work is just will be sustenance enough.
>>8015879
jesus fuck those triceps
mirin' hard
>>8015958
that lioness should be strong to hunt to feed her husband :^)
