sit down

.

.

Once, there was a fellow who wanted out of the Zen monastery where he was living.
In Zen monasteries you must pay constant attention to what you’re doing,

 what you’re experiencing from moment to moment. After a time, this can get to you,

 which is precisely what happened to this fellow.

He went to see the master and said,

 “I can’t take this anymore. I want out.”

The master said,

 “Okay, then leave.”

He started for the door, and the master said,

 “That’s not your door.”

“Oh. Sorry.” The fellow looked around and spotted another door.

 As he headed for it, the master said,

 “That’s not your door.”

“Oh!” He looked around for another door, and as he headed for that one,

 the master said,

“That’s not your door!”

Bewildered and exasperated, the poor fellow said, “What do you mean?

 There’s no other door. You told me I could leave, but there’s no door I can leave by.”

“If there’s no door you can leave by,”

 said the master,

 “then sit down.”

We can only be here. We can’t leave. We’re always here.

 Examine your life and you’ll see. The master’s

“sit down”

 means to start paying attention to what’s actually going on,

 instead of running away from it. This is how it is with us.

 Because we ignore our true situation, we’re never satisfied.



~ Steve Hagen

problem?

There is a story of a man who came to see the Buddha because he had heard that the Buddha was a great teacher. He had some problems in his life, and he thought the Buddha might be able to help him straighten them out.

The Buddha listened patiently to the man as he laid out all his difficulties and worries, and then waited for the Buddha to say the words that would put everything right for him.

The Buddha said, "I can't help you."

"What do you mean?" said the man.

"Everybody's got problems," said the Buddha. "In fact, we've all got eighty-three problems, each one of us. Eighty-three problems, and there's nothing you can do about it. If you work really hard on one of them, maybe you can fix it - but if you do, another one will pop right into its place."

The man was furious. "I thought you were a great teacher! I thought you could help me!"

The Buddha said, "Well, maybe it will help you with the eighty-fourth problem."

"The eighty-fourth problem?" said the man. "What's the eighty-fourth problem?"

The Buddha said, "You want to not have any problems."

- Steve Hagen

from Buddhism Plain and Simple

art by Alex Arshansky