Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explores the notion of patience in practice. And time. For nearly twenty years, Hon, a layman, studied under Master Egon. Several of the students went out to the edge of the district and Hon looked up at the falling snow and said, “Snowflakes as nice as these do not fall elsewhere.” We are all in such a hurry. But time is a state of mind—full of anxiety about the future and the past. If you are patient enough, you will not miss yourself. The Buddha sat and sat and sat… in no time. Lola recounts the tale of the old man and the young man, traveling together to a gated village that closes when the sun goes down. They asked their boatsman if they could make it in time. He replied, “You can reach it if you don’t hurry.” The young man hurried, and the old man just plodded along. When in his haste the young man fell into a ditch, the old man was too feeble to help him. So the old man continued on… and arrived at the village in just the nick of time. If you wish to be spontaneous, you cannot pose. If you have posed your whole life. It won’t be easy to stop the habit. Be silent and watchful—and aware—and you’ll be able to see your habits. The story of the old man who was dying and asked his son to go find a teacher and learn to meditate. So the son goes to a teacher and says, “My father would like to see my meditative face before he dies. How long will it take?” “Three years answered the teacher. So the son asked, “What if I work really hard at it?” Then 30 years. The five senses and the biblical reference to the single eye. Those who know use words differently than those who do not know. The sense is not in the word—but in the user. July 5, 1981
