Love Yourself

A Zen Parable:

One day a student worked up the courage to ask the Zen master, “What is it like to be enlightened?”

Without acknowledging or rejecting the seeker’s question, the master remained silent. After a time, the teacher spoke: “I eat when I’m hungry. I sleep when I’m tired.”

The questioner replied, “Well, isn’t that what everyone does?”

The master looked up in some surprise and a hint of a smile graced his lips. “Oh, you think so? Oh, no! When others eat, they think of ten thousand things and their minds endlessly run from one thing to another. When others sleep, they dream of ten thousand things and their minds create endless fantasies and dramas.”

The master closed the eyes, paused for a time, and then continued. “When I eat, I just eat. When I sleep, I just sleep… It’s far too simple, I know.”

 
A thought from Alan Watts:

“Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.”

 
A bit of humor:

For all practical purposes it seems that there is only one important place in the entire Universe and a single point of interest in all eternity: Now and Here…

Axel

The comic strip was taken from “The man in the strip”