A Different Perspective
Prose - Wisecracks - Poetry - Zen Stories
Boomerangs, breathing, tea, breakfast, golf, rain, lifelines, hugs
The Boom Warrior
Confidence is an unconditional state in which you simply possess an unwavering state of mind that needs no reference point. There is no room for doubt; even the question of doubt does not occur... This unconditional confidence contains gentleness, because the notion of fear does not arise; sturdiness, because in the state of confidence there is ever-present resourcefulness; and joy, because trusting in the heart brings a greater sense of humor. This confidence can manifest as majesty, elegance, and richness in a person's life.
- Venerable Chögyam Trungpa, Shambla: The Sacred Path of the Warrior
Bacon and Eggs Breakfast
A man from town asked an old farmer to be on a citizen's committee that would work on improving the town. The farmer asked, "Do you want me be to be involved or committed?"
Puzzled, the man asked," What's the difference?"
The farmer answered, "It's like a bacon and eggs breakfast. The chicken is involved, but the pig is committed."
Dr. Joseph Parent, Zen Golf
Empty Your Cup
A young man had read all the books he could find about Zen. He heard about a great Zen master and requested an appointment with him to ask for teachings. When they were seated, the young man proceeded to tell the master everything he had understood from his reading, saying that Zen is about this and about that, on and on.
After some time, the master suggested that they have some tea. Her performed the traditional tea ceremony while the student sat at attention, bowing when served, saying nothing. The master began to pour tea into the student's cup. He poured until it was full and kept pouring. The tea ran over the edge of the cup and onto the table. The master kept pouring as the tea ran off the table and onto the floor. Finally, the student couldn't contain himeself any longer. He shouted, "Stop! Stop pouring! The cup is full - no more will go in!"
The master stopped pouring and said, "Just like this cup, your mind is full of your own opinions and perceptions. How can you learn anything unless you first empty your cup?"
How to Breathe
Few people know what it means to take a full breath. If you watch, most people inhale rapidly and raise their shoulders. That is a hard high breath, but not a full one. Only the tops of the lungs fill up, and the raised shoulders are actually in a position of tension.
Then there is a deep breath, in which you inhale deep into your torso, filling your lungs to the bottom. Some people call this a belly breath, since filling the bottom of your lungs presses down your diapragm, pushing out your belly. A deep breath is better than a shallow one, but there is a more complete way to breathe, called a full breath. As human beings, we're very frontally oriented. Eyes, nose, and mouth are all in the front of our face, and even our ears have their opening toward the front.The natural bend in our elbows moves our hands forward for feeling. Most of us have more awareness ot our front than our back, and little feeling for the thickness of our torso.
To experience a full breath, sit up or stand with good posture and close your eyes. Breathe gently and slowly through your nose. Feel the breath going down the back of your throat. On the next few breaths, feel as if your breath were going into your back, filling it first side to side and then down to your tailbone. You can imagine that your back is like a thin, inflatable camping pad, fiiling with breath to an even thickness across your whole back. As you breathe gently this way, you'll feel your shoulder blades widen a bit and the back of your rib cage spread wider. Finally, your back will seem to get longer as you feel as though the breath is reaching down to your tailbone. This feeling is excellent for your golf (boomerang) stance, as the widening of your back lets your arms hang more freely, and the lengthening feeling means your back is straighter.
Practice this way of breathing as often as you can, in any setting. Soon it will become your natural way of breathing. Making full use of your lungs is a tremendous benefit. You are providing the maximum amount of oxygen to your blood and through it to your muscles and brain. You'll not only be breathing fuller, you'll be breathing smarter.
Dr. Joseph Parent, Zen Golf
"IT IS ETERNITY NOW. I AM IN THE
MIDST
OF IT. IT IS ABOUT ME IN THE
SUNSHINE.
I AM IN IT, AS THE BUTTER
FLY IN THE
LIGHT-LADEN AIR. NOTHING
HAS TO COME.
IT IS NOW. NOW IS ETERNITY.
NOW IS THE IMMORTAL LIFE."
Richard Jeffries
Umbrellas
I have never been able to understand umbrellas because I don't care if I get wet. Umbrellas have always been a mystery to me because I can't understand why they appear just before it starts to rain. The rest of the time they are vacant from the landscape as if they had never existed. Maybe the umbrellas live by themselves in little appartments under Tokyo.
Do the umbrellas know that it's going to rain? Because I know that people don't know. The weatherman says that it will rain tomorrow but it doesn't and you don't see a single God-damn umbrella. Then the weatherman says that it will be a sunshiny day and suddenly there are umbrellas everywhere you look, and a few moments later, it starts raining like hell.
Who are these umbrellas?
R. Brautigan - "The Tokyo-Montana Express"
Hugging Meditation
Hugging is a beautiful Western custom , and we from the East would like to contribute the practice of conscious breathing to it. When you hold a child in your arms, or hug your mother, or your husband, or your friend, if you breathe in and out three times, your happiness will be multiplied at least tenfold.
If you are distracted, thinking about other things, your hug will be distracted also, not very deep, and you may not enjoy hugging very much. So when you hug your child, your friend, your spouse, I recommend that you first breathe in and out consciously and return to the present moment. Then, while you hold him or her in your arms, breathe three times consciously, and you will enjoy your hugging more than ever before.
(...) It takes time to become comfortable hugging this way. If you feel a litle hollow inside, you may want to slap your friend's back while you hug him in order to prove that you're really there. But to be really there, you only need to breathe, and suddenly he becomes completely real. The two of you really exist in that moment. It may be one of the best moments in your life.
Suppose your daughter comes and presents herself to you. If you are not really there - if you you are thinking of the past, worrying about the future, or possessed by anger or fear - the child, although standing in front of you, will not exist for you. She is like a ghost, and you may be like a ghost also. If you want to be with her, you have to return to the present moment. Breathing consciously, uniting body and mind, you make yourself into a real person again. When you become a real person, your daughter becomes real also. She is a wondrous presence, and a real encounter with life is possible at that moment. If you hold her in your arms and breathe, you will awaken to the preciousness of your loved one, and life is.
Thich Nhat Hanh - Peace Is Every Step
All the People That I Didn't Meet and the Places That I Didn't Go
"I have a short lifeline," she says. "Damn it."
We're lying together under the sheet. It's morning. She's looking at her hand. She's twenty-three: dark hair. She's very carefully looking at her hand.
"Damn it!"
R. Brautigan - "The Tokyo-Montana Express"