The Secret Power Within Zen Solutions to Real Problems by Chuck Norris

Author:Chuck Norris [Norris, Chuck]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Zen, Philosophy, Buddhism
ISBN: 9780553069082
Publisher: Harmony; Broadway Books ed edition
Published: 1997-01-05T18:30:00+00:00

CALMING THE

MOVING MIND

A brisk wind was flapping the temple flag, and two monks, watching it, fell into an argument. One said the flag moved, the other held that instead it was the wind that moved. They argued back and forth but could reach no conclusion. Finally, the master appeared and said, “It is not the wind that moves, it is not the flag that moves; it is your mind that moves.” ‘

The alarm goes off and you wake up; the phone rings and you answer; you pause too long at an intersection, and the driver behind you honks. All day long bells, whistles, and horns prod us on, keep us moving toward the timely completion of each chore or task. Even in moments of relative silence, our minds rush ahead, checking off the To Do list and planning the rest of the day, breaking it down into hours, sometimes even fifteen-minute segments, usually with some last-minute obligation that needs no reminder since it’sbeen at the back of our mind, nagging, all day long.

It’s no wonder that Oriental Zen instructors who come to the United States to teach complain that they have little time for their daily meditation. The average day in the life of the average American leaves little space for any endeavors not directly related to work or the necessary actions of leading a life and running a family.

Telling Americans to slow down seems futile: To slow down means to fall behind, to be late, perhaps to miss some onetime-only opportunity. One of the charming aspects of the past as depicted in books and movies is the amount of time people had to sit and think or talk. People in the past seem to have had more time for the things that matter — for being good and attentive parents, for making lasting friendships and actually enjoying the benefits of loving relationships, for growing personally through study and contemplation.

It’s clear from the situations presented in some Zen koans that early practitioners had the time to go off on their own to perfect their methods, to contemplate. Phrases like “after several years” or “many years later” appear in abundance — an archer learned his art, a swordsman became a master, only after periods of time that seem impossibly long to us.

It’s difficult to gain perspective on all this precisely because of the difficulties involved in actually slowing down and seeing. Where is the actual movement? What is the real source of the rush? If you look, you’ll see that the movement and rush belong to the city, or the office, or the freeway; the stress and the constant push come from the telephones and the clocks and computers. They do not come from you. If you fall in with the sources of movement, letting your mind move at the same speed as the city, if you agree to respond to each impulse, then you, too, will become part of the stress. But nothing obliges you to do so.

You can’t slow the city, but you can take control of your ife and manage the speed at which it moves.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.