Too difficult to appreciate

Recondite Precept about Kokeshi

"With purely intuitively insight -you SHOULD appreciate kokeshi!"

I would almost give up the study of kokeshi when I read the above which was written by one of famous kokeshi authorities.It goes on.

"The acquaintance of the insight seems to lead to the way of 'zen' as well."

Indeed,"art is long,life is short".I will have gone through my reincarnation at least a hundred times before my attaining the "satori".

Now I think this was persuasive at some level because it also included criticizing an easy kokeshi boom(cf.""Kokeshi with indomitable spirit" at that time.Maybe his message was just "Appreciate kokeshi,Don't gamble on kokeshi!" But I used to think this was rather discouraging and eve dull because zen stories are often used as rhetoric to keep the point vague - the word "zen riddle" includes another meaning of "empty debate" in Japan.

Pure Fun of Kokeshi!

Once I asked my dead father-in-low.

"Do you think this opinion in this book seems to be too exaggerated?"
"Could be." he replied with taking care of his kokeshi.
"I think we need not to have such "satori" or "zen-spirit" just to enjoy kokeshi!"
"Really." he replied.
"That's too abstract! Maybe he'd like to show himself more important by making just simple things harder.I don't like such attitudes!!"
"Sure."he replied.Then,I noticed he hardly listened to me.
"Well,how do you think about this book?"
He looked surprised,and replied to me,"Book? what book?"
I showed the book."this is the book you gave me before."
He glanced it through quickly,and said to me,"I'm sorry,actually I hardly read it.I just enjoyed pictures in it."

He took his own way.

I have a friend who is a zen master.Whenever I complain about or criticize others,he always tells me "So Many Man,So Many Mind".This "4M" is one of the most important maxim to me.And another is "Nothing is hard to a willing mind" -I think this is the maxim that my dead father-in-low left to me.