Touched by Zen
I HAVE learnt from a few (very few) close qigong colleagues that on very rare occasions when they are so engrossed in doing their exercise that there were brief moments when they are "lost in time".
These occasions are what I would describe as people "being touched by Zen". If I may be so humbled as to attempt an explanation.Sometimes when you are dreaming, and a lovely dream it is, your mind's eye are totally engrossed in participating in the series of events that unfold.
Your eyes are open but you do not see, at least not the objects or scenery in front of you. Instead, you "see" a chain of happenings taking place in your mind. You do not sense the passing of time.
You only realise what has transpired when you are out of the loop, so to speak.People who have had experiencs with a touch of Zen tell of being one with their surroundings.
It is an experience that escapes the human language. You have to be there, in there and part of it all, to know what it is all about. And if you are asked to describe what has happened to you, chances are you will be at a loss for words.
Because no words or adjectives are adequate to to create the totality in a pictorial understanding for the human mind.The human mind, in substance, is merely biological. The other "mind" wanders, exists, doesn't sleep and is a portal to the "other side".
Lest, I be accused of engaging in a topic that slips from the grasp of human understanding, Zen is something that is being experienced, rather than described.That is why, for centuries, Zen masters have taught lessons to their students by way of koans.
Koan is a riddle or paradoxical anecdote employed by Zen masters to give logical reasoning a good jolt. This device is supposed to throw the normal thought process out of the Zen window, thereby creating a vacuum by which understanding enters from Nothingness.
If this is bewildering to you at this juncture, it's time to stop thinking about it and go out and have a cup of tea.Where in this world is found Zen? No where, actually because Zen is intangible. It is formless and it simply and absolutely cannot be pegged or pinned down. You do not find Zen.
It touches you when all that is right has taken place.There is no winner or loser in the Zen game. It is not even a game. Eons ago, that famous Chinese sage by the name of Lao Tze attempted to describe it. The closest he came to describing it, was "not describing it".
Lao Tze called it the Tao. Tao or Zen, it means the same thing. It is not even a thing. It is nothing and yet something. It is not subjected to the laws of human language, nor to its physical laws.To be touched by Zen is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Many people go through lifetimes experiencing nothing of it.
Only a few have been touched. Those who can experienced being part of Zen are the great teachers you read about in books.These are the people who have been there and back. They have elected to stay back and spread the word but many do not understand them.
Nevertheless, they put the message in very simple terms so that at least a modicum of understanding can be achieved.
Meanwhile, the world continues to turn on its axis. Those who are chosen to feel the touch of Zen will become masters of time and captains of their fate. They know they are not anyone's champion or master.
They just are, and they remain so at will.That is the miracle and the Zen of it all.
These occasions are what I would describe as people "being touched by Zen". If I may be so humbled as to attempt an explanation.Sometimes when you are dreaming, and a lovely dream it is, your mind's eye are totally engrossed in participating in the series of events that unfold.
Your eyes are open but you do not see, at least not the objects or scenery in front of you. Instead, you "see" a chain of happenings taking place in your mind. You do not sense the passing of time.
You only realise what has transpired when you are out of the loop, so to speak.People who have had experiencs with a touch of Zen tell of being one with their surroundings.
It is an experience that escapes the human language. You have to be there, in there and part of it all, to know what it is all about. And if you are asked to describe what has happened to you, chances are you will be at a loss for words.
Because no words or adjectives are adequate to to create the totality in a pictorial understanding for the human mind.The human mind, in substance, is merely biological. The other "mind" wanders, exists, doesn't sleep and is a portal to the "other side".
Lest, I be accused of engaging in a topic that slips from the grasp of human understanding, Zen is something that is being experienced, rather than described.That is why, for centuries, Zen masters have taught lessons to their students by way of koans.
Koan is a riddle or paradoxical anecdote employed by Zen masters to give logical reasoning a good jolt. This device is supposed to throw the normal thought process out of the Zen window, thereby creating a vacuum by which understanding enters from Nothingness.
If this is bewildering to you at this juncture, it's time to stop thinking about it and go out and have a cup of tea.Where in this world is found Zen? No where, actually because Zen is intangible. It is formless and it simply and absolutely cannot be pegged or pinned down. You do not find Zen.
It touches you when all that is right has taken place.There is no winner or loser in the Zen game. It is not even a game. Eons ago, that famous Chinese sage by the name of Lao Tze attempted to describe it. The closest he came to describing it, was "not describing it".
Lao Tze called it the Tao. Tao or Zen, it means the same thing. It is not even a thing. It is nothing and yet something. It is not subjected to the laws of human language, nor to its physical laws.To be touched by Zen is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Many people go through lifetimes experiencing nothing of it.
Only a few have been touched. Those who can experienced being part of Zen are the great teachers you read about in books.These are the people who have been there and back. They have elected to stay back and spread the word but many do not understand them.
Nevertheless, they put the message in very simple terms so that at least a modicum of understanding can be achieved.
Meanwhile, the world continues to turn on its axis. Those who are chosen to feel the touch of Zen will become masters of time and captains of their fate. They know they are not anyone's champion or master.
They just are, and they remain so at will.That is the miracle and the Zen of it all.
posted by fillip at 4:30 PM
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