Re:Meditation and Compassion (a zen story)

[Guest guest]

Dear Danny,

This is a lovely and heart-warming story, and explains the state

of 'thoughtless awareness' very well. It is interesting that the

teacher in the story says that you have to 'go back to being a

child'. In my first Sahaja Yoga meeting, this is what my teacher

said to me. Could you (or anyone else)please explain a little more

what is meant by this concept, and how it is achieved.

Regards, Semira

 

Meditation and Compassion (a zen story)

 

It happened that a young man belonging to a very rich and

aristocratic

family, came to a Zen master. He had known everything, indulged in

every desire; he had enough money, so there was no problem. But then

he got fed up -- fed up with sex, fed up with women, fed up with

wine.

He came to the Zen master and said, " Now I am fed up with the world.

Is there some way that I can know myself, who I am? "

The young man said, " But before you say anything, let me tell you

something about myself. I am indecisive and cannot continue anything

for long, so if you give me some technique or if you tell me to

meditate, I may do it for a few days and then I will escape, knowing

well that there is nothing in the world, knowing well that only

misery

awaits there, death. But this is my type of mind. I cannot continue,

I

cannot persist in anything, so before you choose something, remember

this. "

 

The master said, " Then it will be very difficult if you cannot

persist, because long effort will be needed to undo all that you have

done in the past. You will have to travel back. It will have to be a

regression. You will have to reach back to the moment when you were

born, when fresh, young. That freshness will have to be achieved

again. It is not ahead, but back that you will have to go -- to

become

a child again.