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Pastimes : FLAME THREAD - Post all obnoxious/derogatory comments here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Blue On Black who wrote (7676)	10/31/1999 12:26:00 AM
From: Druss	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12754

From 'The Zen of Shorting' Western readers of the works of Chu Mei Ash often fail to grasp the nuances of what is being communicated by the great short. It is only by looking at him from an Eastern and in particular a Zen perspective that one can truly appreciate and understand him. The following passage from 'The Zen of Shorting' clearly demonstrates this: One of the epic battles ever to occur in the Japanese stock market was between the great short Chu Mei Ash and a long Noh Se. The conflict began when Chu Mei Ash announced he was shorting the Yu Go tea company. Noh Se immediately began denouncing Chu Mei Ash, he called the short ever more disgusting insults and urged his followers to buy more Yu Go. The stock climbed ever upward and Chu Mei Ash simply said he was shorting more shares, he never mentioned Noh Se at all and did not reply to his insults. Finally one day word came out that a fire had destroyed the companies ships and warehouses in China and the stock was utterly worthless. The following conversation was recorded between the great short and one of his students. "Master", the student said, "Have you heard about Noh Se?" "No little grub, what has happened?" Chu Mei Ash said. "Master, he has publicly apologized to you. He says that he was wrong in calling for a long on Yu Go and far worse to have insulted you so. He says that the shame of what he has done to you by insulting you is unbearably painful to him. He says that unless you can accept his apology he will commit seppuku, for only by killing himself can he atone for the wrong he has done." The Chu Mei Ash sat silent for a long time and then said out loud almost to himself "To see such pain is terrible thing. It grieves me to see even one who called himself my enemy to bear this agony. Despite his insults of me it is plain to me that Noh Se is a man of the highest honor." He then stood up and said to his student, "Please wait here, I must contact Noh Se and free him from this." He then went into his house and after a time came out and gave a small box to his student and asked him to bear it to Noh Se. About an hour later the student returned to find Chu Mei Ash sitting outside his house looking upon his garden. The student joined him and after a while finally said to Chu Mei Ash, "Master, I expected you to write Noh Se a letter pardoning him but you also sent him some sort of gift in the box. May I ask what it was?" "Certainly small grub, I sent him an extremely dull knife. I didn't send him a pardon at all." "But Master," the student said, "You said he was a man of the highest honor and you could not bear to see him in pain." "Just so, I to my distress could see that Noh Se was most honorable and in great pain from the insults he gave me. Such a man would never be free from this burden of pain, for were I to forgive him, he would feel I had done so to save his life or because I was being generous. He could never feel that I had truly accepted his apology. So tragically the only way for me to end his suffering was to accept his suicide." Chu Mei Ash said. "I am not sure I see things this way Master, why then did you send him a dull knife?" the student asked. "I sent him that knife to further his atonement. Since to gain his freedom from this burden he must kill himself, he should do so with the greatest agony. In this way he will best reduce the burden of bad karma which he bears." "This is a circumstance of terrible pain for me. For I would, for my own conscience, prefer to take the easy path of forgiveness. This would be an evil act for me to do. For I would shift the burden of suffering to Noh Se. It is my karma to bear this pain. The pain of knowing this honorable man must commit seppuku when I could prevent it. Truly the Bhudda was correct when he said all life was suffering." "Come little grub, allow me to bear this sadness alone. Let us go in my house. My chef Le Cu Pah has prepared his specialty, baby back ribs, and they are to die for." Chi Mei Ash said. The last sentence of this passage has been interpreted by some Western readers to show that Chu Mei Ash did not truly feel any pain at the death of his rival. In fact this is very much an example of the depth of his commitment to Zen. It is a clear expression of the Zen concept of 'live in the moment'. He accepted the painful burden of Noh Se's death and was still able to offer an excellent meal to his student. Chu Mei Ash had a rare concept of compassion and mercy. It is only by dropping Western preconceptions and bias that we can appreciate it.