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Transformation of a Bodhisattva,
Footsteps of an Ascetic Monk
l968 San Francisco
The Master gave them the names 'Twelve Causes and Conditions' and 'Seven Bodhi Shares,' and their dispositions were quite distinct. Seven Bodhi Shares was gentle, but Twelve Causes and Conditions was impatient and would often beat her wings against the Master, who taught her with wise and gentle kindness.
Or she would fly about in a rage if she didn't get what she wanted. The Master's wisdom and clever expedients in teaching the birds weren't lost on his human disciples, who suffered from many of the same afflictions.
One of these afflictions was food, because many of the young American disciples, inspired by the Master's practice of taking only one meal a day, were trying to master that practice themselves.
The Master wisely directed to the birds his teaching about greed for food. He fed them from a tall glass jar filled with the best of grains. At first the jar was filled to the brim and the two birds would happily perch on the rim and peck at the grain.
