Archivi dei tag: better person

A Zen Story – The Quality of Our Effort

Do you know the Zen story of the young man who crosses Japan to reach the school of a famous martial arts master?

When he arrives at the dojo, the teacher asks him:

“What can I do for you?”

The boy replies: “I want to study with you and become the best fighter in the whole region.”

“How long will it take me?“

“10 years at least,” the teacher replies. “10 years is a very long time – replies the boy – What if I study two times more than all your students?“

“20 years then” – the master replies.

The boy, puzzled, replies “and if I train all day and night long with all of myself? “

“30 years,” the teacher replies.

At this point the young man replies: “How is it possible that the more I say that I will work hard, the longer it will take me?“

“The answer is simple – concludes the master – “when you have one of your eyes fixed on the goal, you have only the other one left to find the way. »

How would you interpret this story?

Personally I consider it an important reminder of how it is not necessarily a more intense effort that can help us get sooner to the destination we have in mind, but rather an attention to the quality of our effort.  
Doing better step by step than trying to do more by burning down the steps will put less stress and anxiety in our lives.

It’s a bit like when we train our body. Practising intensive sports from time to time will only serve to traumatize your body. While a constant but carefully calibrated effort allows us not only to achieve lasting results, but to make each step of the journey much more enjoyable.

How could you reduce the intensity of the effort by improving its quality?

Why Reading Makes You a Better Person

I want to share a story with you on why reading makes you a better person.

“I’ve read a lot of books, but I’ve forgotten most of them. So what is the purpose of reading?”

This was the question that a pupil once asked his Master.

The Master at that moment did not answer.

After a few days, however, while he and the young pupil were sitting by a river, he said he was thirsty and asked the boy to get him water using an old bucket all dirty that was there on the ground.

The pupil flinched, as he knew it was a request without any logic.

However, he could not contradict his Master, and taking the bucket, he began to accomplish this absurd task. Every time he immersed the bucket in the river to pull up water to take to his Master, he could not take even one single step towards him that the bucket was empty.

He tried and tried again dozens of times, but no matter how hard he tried to run faster from the shore to his Master, the water kept passing through all the holes in the bucket and got lost along the way.

Exhausted, he sat down beside the Master and said:

“I can’t catch water with that bucket. Forgive me Master, it is impossible and I have failed in my task.”

“No,” replied the old man, smiling, “you didn’t fail. Look at the bucket now. Thanks to the water that filtered from the holes, it’s clean and looks new.”

“When you read books,” continued the old Master, “you are like that bucket, and the books are like the water of the river.”

“It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember all the books you read. The books with their ideas, emotions, feelings, and knowledge, that you will find among the pages, will cleanse your mind and your spirit, and make you a better and renewed person. That’s the purpose of reading.”

What about you? Do you think that reading would make you a better person, and that it will also improve the quality of your life?