Beard or No Beard
We conceptualize and judge things by past experience and kill the precious present moment
From the essay, “Beard or No Beard” in the book, The Center Within by Rev. Gyomay Kubose, copyright 1986.
There is a story about Wakuan, a famous teacher, who upon seeing Bodhidharma's picture said, “Why does this Bodhidharma have no beard?”
Bodhidharma brought Zen Buddhism from India to China in the 6th century. He had a heavy beard, and all pictures and drawings of him show this. On the surface, the story about Wakuan makes no sense. Why should Wakuan, while looking at a picture of Bodhidharma with a deep, heavy beard, say, why does he have no beard? At first, I did not understand this story. Now I understand what Wakuan is trying to say.
We conceptualize many things. Through our conceptualizations, we have expectations. When someone asks us about Bodhidharma, we say, Bodhidharma? Oh yes, the bearded man. When one says, he is a Buddhist, we have a certain image of a Buddhist. The same with a Christian. The label Christian carries a certain image. We conceptualize and form attachments to these words. We do this with other people, things, and events. We create certain concepts in our minds, have set ideas about things, and make judgments based on these concepts.
Perhaps, Wakuhan was trying to destroy the strong conceptualization of Bodhidharma has a heavy beard. He was trying to break the duality of beard or no beard. We humans like to make things rigid and definite. This is so. That is not so. This is red. That is green. We are habituated to concepts that compare things. He is a good man. He is a bad man. Oh, blacks, they are bad. Beware. Some blacks are bad. Some are good. Likewise for whites and every other race. There are no rigidly set things. The Buddhist point is, all things do change. All things are constantly moving on. However, we want to keep things as they are. We conceptualize things, and if they do not turn out according to our conceptualizations, we are disappointed.
Conceptualizing keeps our minds in a status quo. We need to break this conceptualization and bring freshness into our lives. This is why Wakuan says, “Why does this Bodhidharma have no beard?” He wants us to break the over-intellectualization, the rigid, definite ideas. We have to go beyond beard or no beard. Do not conceptualize, generalize, or become attached to such thoughts. This is the point of the story.
If only we could live like young children. A young child is naive. He does not conceptualize. He does not depend on the past, but has a sensitive attitude toward each moment. Give him a little candy and he is overjoyed. The whole world enjoys the candy with this child.
As we grow up, we conceptualize and judge things by past experience and kill the precious present moment. We make the present a dying present. We lose the sensitivity and freshness of each moment. If we live like a child making every moment lively, we can really enjoy life.
When you laugh, laugh heartily. When you cry, cry. Living every moment is the way of Buddhism. Each moment is a precious moment. Live each day as a new fresh day. That is the point of the story about Wakuan. It is trying to break dualistic thinking by presenting the exact opposite. You have to understand that true life is always fresh and always beautiful. That is what Wakuhon meant when he said, “Why does this Bodhidharma have no beard?”