MORE OR LESS

MORE OR LESS

A pundit is a person who offers his or her opinion on a particular subject area on which he or she appears to be knowledgeable.

The news media is loaded with pundits.

Such a person once visited a Zen master, and proceeded to spout commentaries on one topic and another. The master listened, then poured tea into the visitor’s cup.

He continued to pour until the cup ran over, slopping tea onto the table and the floor.

        “But my cup is overflowing,” the man pointed out.

        “Exactly,” the master said.

        How often is enough more than enough?

        Everyone is familiar with food buffets. These are the places that advertise “Eat all you want,” when they should say, “Stuff your gut.”

        More often than not, most food taken is only partially consumed, and the remainder is discarded.

        Here is a Japanese sake cup. It holds little more than a thimbleful of rice wine. One or two sips of sake are usually enough for anyone. However, some individuals will knock back a dozen or more cups, or else guzzle directly from the bottle, because to them there is no such thing as enough.

        Of course, such excesses apply to other things and to other peoples.

        Remember Imelda Marcos, the wife of the former President of the Philippines. Owing to self-indulgence, Mrs. Marcos owned more than a twelve-hundred pairs of shoes.

Imagine. Twelve hundred pairs of shoes for one person.

If you think that was an excess, consider Jay Leno, who owns 169 automobiles and 117 motorcycles.

        How much is enough?

But I am straying off the subject, which is more or less.

And what does that have to do with Zen living?

More or less has to do with knowing yourself. It has to do with putting things in their proper perspective.

Remember the Buddhist middle way of moderation between extreme indulgence and self-mortification. It is the path to seeing things in the proper perspective.

You don't have to look like somebody else, or possess as much as somebody else. Also, you can’t know others until you know yourself.