Zenseday
Find a Conversation
| Tue, 02-08-2011 - 10:32pm |
I know it's early, but I wanted to get this written while it's quiet tonight. I've been thinking about the balance of effort and patience. Many of us try SO hard to move forward, get better, stop feeling, stay NC, etc. I've read several comments this week "when will this stop?" I found this story:
A young man in Japan who wanted to be the greatest martial artist of the land. He thought that to reach this goal, he must study with the best instructor, who lived many miles away. One day he left home to go study with this great Zen teacher. After traveling for several days, he arrived at the school and was given an audience with the teacher. "What do you wish to learn from me?" the master asked. "I want you to teach me your art and help me become one of the best martial artists in the country," the young man replied. "How long must I study?" "Ten years at least," the master answered.
The guy thought, ten years is a lot of time. I want to get his done sooner than
that. I don't have that much time. Certainly if I try harder I can complete
this task quicker. So he asked the master, "What if I studied twice as
hard as everyone else? How long would it take then?"

Pages
I love this story! Thanks Bodhi.
Bodhi, thanks for sharing the story :)
Thank you Bodhi!
Great post Bodhi!
I'm rasing my hand as one that needs to work on patience.
I would also like to add that if the student in the expcerpt did not utilize the tried and tested tools being offered, then he would have likely added even more time and frustration to his journey.
Hugs,
E1
Whether you think you can or you think you can't you are probably right. A parrot can repeat what it has learned but the mark of true intelligence is applying what is learned.
bodhi - thank you for this!!!
Love this!
I'm so glad everyone connected with the story. I really believe that balance in all things is the key. We have one posture in yoga (those of you that do bikram will know exactly what I'm talking about) called Standing Bow pose and the exact words the instructor says are "stretching and pulling are equal and simultaneous; if you do this, you will balance like this forever" That's what it's all about!
Bodhi
Ill always remember this from your standing bow pose reference!
Perfect illustration of finding BALANCE through - Stretching and pulling.
Thanks for sharing your insight.
Michelle
Pages