Twenty monks and one nun, who was named Eshun, were practicing meditation with a certain zen master.
Eshun was very pretty even though her head was shaved and her dress plain. Several monks secretly fell in love with her. One of them wrote her a letter, insisting on a private meeting.
Eshun did not reply. The following day the master gave a lecture to the group and when it was over, Eshun arose. Addressing the one who had written her, she said, “If you really love me so much, come and embrace me now.”
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Infatuation, desire, longing . . . compare this to unconditional love. Does true love really need to be hidden or masked? Does true love need anything from the object of its attention? Or does true love simply love all the objects of its attention because it can do nothing less?
What we often call love, is really yearning, longing, desire. There’s of course nothing wrong or bad about this – but calling it something which it isn’t can surely lead to confusion and eventually pain. Why not just call a spade a spade and be honest about it? At least this way we have a chance at freedom. Freedom from what? Freedom from the object of our desire – for only when we are free from the objects of our desire can we truly love and appreciate them.
