Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Zen - doing nothing

There's a story of three people who are watching a monk standing on top of a hill. After they watch him for a while, one of the three says,
"He must be a shepherd looking for a sheep he's lost."
The second person says,
"No, he's not looking around. I think he must be waiting for a friend."
And the third person says,
"He's probably a monk. I'll bet he's meditating."

They begin arguing over what this monk is doing, and eventually, to settle the squabble, they climb up the hill and approach him.
"Are you looking for a sheep?"
"No, I don't have any sheep to look for."
"Oh, then you must be waiting for a friend."
"No, I'm not waiting for anyone."
"Well, then you must be meditating."
"Well, no. I'm just standing here. I'm not doing anything at all."

Seeing Buddha-nature requires that we ... completely be each moment, so that whatever activity we are engaged in - whether we're looking for a lost sheep, or waiting for a friend, or meditating - we are standing right here, right now, doing nothing at all.

- CHARLOTTE JOKO BECK, EVERYDAY ZEN

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