seventh world of chan buddhism - Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun

through his troubles. It's another story when the borrower says he cannot pay but evidences
some disconcerting purchasing power to the contrary.
At such a time, would-be saints are rank with directives to forgive the debt. But what
does this really mean? Tom owes Jerry a large sum of money and pays him with a check that
bounces, and all the checks Jerry wrote against it bounce in turn. Jerry may be unable to
cover this deficit. Should he forgive Tom the debt while he sits in jail watching him drive by
in his new car? Tom thinks Nirvanic solutions are great but Jerry has some serious doubts.
Without malice or self-pity Jerry should press charges against Tom. He should do
this not only because his creditors will likely understand his dilemma (having no doubt
suffered their own Toms) and may agree to wait for payment, and not only because Jerry has
a civic duty to take a bad-check passer out of circulation and prevent the fleecing of another
victim, but also because without conscious confrontation there can be no spiritual progress.
Tom has to grow up and accept responsibility for himself. He has to be penitent. He has to
repent. He can't do that if all his victims hasten to forgive him his debts just to show how
benevolent and spiritually superior they are. Such generosity serves only to stunt him. And it
doesn't do a lot for the orderly growth of community morale, either. No one is suggesting
that Tom be keelhauled or mutilated. But a little counseling - not to mention restitution - is
in order. The law should be allowed to take its course.
If Jerry and Tom were living in a monastery, Jerry should go quietly to the Abbot who
is obliged to investigate Tom's excuse for not paying; and if he determines culpability, the
full force of his authority must be brought to bear to obtain payment. And then, as Abbot, he
must counsel Tom until this flaw of character is corrected. And if the flaw does not submit to
correction, the Abbot has to make some tough decisions about Tom.
No one wants to see Baby B punished from crimes that he can't be blamed for
committing; but even less does anyone want to see him proceed unimpeded in his criminal
ways. As citizens we should want to see him rehabilitated. But as Buddhists we should want
to see him saved - and salvation has nothing whatsoever to do with the criminal justice
system.
And this is the core of the issue. To save Baby B is not to save him from punishment.
To save him is to save him from his ravaging ego. To assist in his salvation is to provide him
with an inspiration to repent. By instruction, by example, and by concern not for where he
happens to be physically residing but for the alienation and rejection he is suffering within his
own mind, do we help him. The change that is required is not in his external environment
but in himself. Do we not believe in the redeeming bliss and eternal life of the Buddha Self?
Do we not believe in the transformative power of God's Grace? Are we practicing somebody
else's religion?
And while we are on the subject, let us remark, not a little unkindly, that a Death Row
Baby B has doubtless been in jail for years before the eve of his execution - that night of vigil
CHAPTER 11 RIGHT UNDERSTANDING
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