What Not To Do As A Devout Buddhist
or,
Genjyo Sanzo’s theory of hypocrisy
the time
the place
are lost to him when he dreams
(though he knows them well by heart when he is awake)
he perceives only
raining gray and moonshadow
the smell of incense,
sandalwood, not quite masking something else,
something bitter and poisonous in the back of his mind.
There is Blood on the floor.
When murder and violence came calling in the night, someone stood in front of him and answered the door
(it was a wrong address, but Death is nothing if not adaptable).
One must remember that under no circumstance should a temple be profaned with such acts of mortal heroism; it shames the gods.
He would not think of that until later.
Instead he watched, wordless, when the hungry blade bit deep
until the screams built up behind his horrified eyes and overflowed
teacher (don’t)
master (leave)
father (me)
(and though a dead man hears nothing, know this: there was never anything to hear in the first place).
He has never cried for anything before
in the aftermath he promises himself he will never do so again.
When the dawn rises he goes out of the profaned temple and seeks revenge on the world, furious and sick with the gift of life he has been given
(a sacrifice is the worst kind of gift to give; like fruitcake or knitted socks, no one appreciates such things).
Years later he embarks upon a divine mission (unenthusiastically, of course) to reclaim someone’s stolen toilet paper roll.
His late master’s scripture lies in the West, they tell him.
It has been missing since that night of rain and blood.
So go fetch, boy!
And he can’t find a good reason not to, so he takes the sunset road to the West
traveling with three others in a Jeep.
It would seem also that he has kept his boyhood promise
as self-imposed ice and steel render him foreign to grief, to compassion, to pain.
No one looking would know him for mortal flesh and bone.
All that remains of innocence are the screams left to build up behind dry eyes
howling where no one hears.
(Zen Buddhism emphasizes muichimotsu, the theory of non-attachment, and as a Sanzo priest he does so as well)
He is not grateful that his companions know better.
