The video of the parable of the four horses was recorded at a summer camp in Lluçà. Many thanks to the people who filmed it and who acted as models in this short video in the forest. The video was created entirely by practitioners of Nansen’s sangha. The audio of the video is a recording of a kusen, an oral teaching by Lluís Nansen given during zazen.
Complete transcription of the kusen on the parable of the four horses
Nagarjuna said that the mind which sees the uncertain world of birth and death is the mind of awakening. The mind that perceives the impermanence of all things in this world. And precisely the Buddha classified his disciples according to their vision of impermanence.
On the Buddha’s path, it is not important to be clever or not, to have good taste or not, to know how to speak or not. This means that the talents of the ordinary world are not relevant to the Buddha’s way. What is important is to see the reality of impermanence.
And that is why the Buddha classified his disciples with the metaphor of the four types of horses. The Buddha said: There are four types of horses.
The one that begins to gallop when it sees the shadow of the whip
the one that sets in motion when the whip touches its skin
the one that starts running when the whip penetrates its flesh
and the one that does not move until the whip pierces its very bones.
This metaphor expressed the different sensitivities of his disciples when it came to generating the spirit of awakening. That is,
Some quickly realize the lack of meaning in ordinary life and hurry to practice.
Others, when they see that things do not turn out as expected, dissatisfied, seek how to free themselves from dissatisfaction.
Others, after continuous frustrations and disappointments, realize that the ordinary world is not a good refuge and seek liberation.
And finally, there are those who, until a great misfortune fully affects them, do not see the need to begin practicing.
But whatever the type of horse, all of them are disciples of the Buddha.
All of them gallop together toward freedom.
