Face-to-Face With the Zen Master

Post by E. Raymond Rock

Boulder was often spiritually alive, and one particular day I discovered a flyer tacked to a utility pole on the Boulder pedestrian mall promoting a two-day intensive meditation retreat in the neighboring town of Broomfield. Considering that we had never ever attended a retreat hosted by a Zen master just before, we determined to go.

It was carried out in a large residence on a pretty piece of property surrounded by stunning trees and flowers, a good stetting, and we ended up amazed how numerous individuals decided to enroll in – there were autos parked all about the place. I was not mindful at the time that the Zen grasp was deemed to be enlightened and identified planet broad! We all discovered seats facing the different walls, and after the routine and policies were covered, we began to sit.

We were happily meditating on the second day when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Would you like an job interview?”

“Certain,” I whispered, thinking, Why not? I do not want any support, but who knows, he may have something intriguing to say (typical Western mindset).

I was revealed upstairs and located the Zen Grasp sitting on a meditation cushion in the center of a enormous room, keeping a weird workers in his right hand searching really much like a crooked tree limb developing out of the floor. He was wearing a humorous hat and looked very comical. But he was not smiling. I entered the place, bowed respectfully, and then just stood there for a second, not realizing what to do. He pointed to a cushion across from him, indicating that I ought to sit.

I sat quietly for a few seconds until finally he loudly asked, “In which YOU Arrive FROM?”

Wow! Exactly where do I come from? This was definitely a metaphysical query – he was testing me, trying to establish wherever I was in my practice, and while I was considering about in which I basically arrived from, he banged his workers on the floor impatiently and repeated, “In which YOU Arrive FROM?”

“Slow down, I am pondering, I’m thinking,” I believed to myself. “Hmmm… I am just an emanation of the Essential Fact… no which is not fairly appropriate. Perhaps I…

BANG! The personnel again, as he shouted, Will not KNOW!”

I looked at him, puzzled, and he banged the stick yet again, “Never KNOW! Never KNOW!” he yelled.

I eventually got the notion and repeated, quietly, “Don’t KNOW?”

“Very good,” he explained, “now… What are you?”

Whoa, another great, deep issue! And as I tried to figure this one particular out, there went the stick…BANG! “Do not KNOW, Don’t KNOW… Silly!” he yelled once more.

Sheepishly, I repeated, “Never KNOW?”

“Very good,” he mentioned, and then went on to ask far more inquiries, but now I had the idea, and every single time he asked a question, I replied, “Will not KNOW!

As he asked far more questions, I became assured with my “Will not Knows” answering nearly just before he concluded his query. My replies were becoming animated! “Do not KNOW! Never KNOW! Do not KNOW! This was enjoyable.

Then he asked, “What your identify?” and I of study course replied, smiling, “Don’t KNOW!”

He looked at me quizzically, then smiled thinly himself, lifted his eyebrows, and quietly explained, “You will not know name?”

And a thing hit me. I do not know what, or why, but one thing changed deep inside of of me correct then and there.

He pointed to the door and I realized that my job interview was more than, an job interview that was only a handful of minutes prolonged but taught me a lot more about my apply than nearly anything else to that point or maybe I was working up to it, at any charge, it was the finest two days I had at any time put in, and when I left the hall that afternoon and stepped outdoors, the trees and flowers surrounding the residence had been diverse — they had been dazzling — and they have dazzled ever before given that.

On the generate property, I was quiet. I felt sorry for the ones who will in no way threat taking the initial, uncomplicated phase of searching inward. Possibly they are far too caught up in lifestyle to cease for even a second, considering probably that inner reflection is silly New Age thing, or a waste of time. They will not recognize that each minute of meditation plants a seed, that someday, with certainty, will totally free them and transform their destinies forever.

E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center, https://secrets2meditation.com/goto/?url=http://www.SouthwestFloridaInsightCenter.com His twenty-eight years of meditation knowledge has taken him across 4 continents, like two stopovers in Thailand in which he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His e-book, A 12 months to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Web page Books) is now accessible at significant bookstores and on-line merchants. Pay a visit to https://secrets2meditation.com/goto/?url=http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com

About the Creator

E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal instructor at the Southwest Florida Insight Center, https://secrets2meditation.com/goto/?url=http://www.SouthwestFloridaInsightCenter.com. His guide, A Yr to Enlightenment (Profession Press/New Page Publications) is now obtainable at key bookstores and online stores. Visit https://secrets2meditation.com/goto/?url=http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com.