Thursday, March 7, 2013

Comprehension Requires Resolve

Here’s another passage from the Zen Tea Record. This is short, but I wanted to give you this one by itself because there’s a lot of food for thought:

“Comprehension requires resolve, not the dogged passage of months or years in study. Since the thought of aspiration may be shallow or deep, you must strive with wholeness of heart solely to fulfill your resolution and practice chanoyu-samadhi.”

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I remember in my early years as a student of chado that I would often sit in lessons and let my mind wander – as any student does in class, I guess! – and not pay attention to what was going on. It’s easy to get out of the habit of focusing on what’s happening, especially if you’re not learning anything new at the time. Even now I sometimes forget to pay attention when I should be. That’s the key lesson: resolve never goes out of style!