Category Archives: Buddhism

Masterpiece and Spontaneity. A zen story.

Masterpiece

A master calligrapher was writing some characters onto a piece of paper. One of his especially perceptive students was watching him. When the calligrapher was finished, he asked for the student’s opinion – who immediately told him that it wasn’t any good. The master tried again, but the student criticized the work again.

Over and over, the calligrapher carefully redrew the same characters, and each time the student rejected it. Finally, when the student had turned his attention away to something else and wasn’t watching, the master seized the opportunity to quickly dash off the characters. “There! How’s that?,” he asked the student. The student turned to look. “THAT…. is a masterpiece!” he exclaimed.

Meanings: “Originality is what makes each of us a masterpiece. Don’t stick to the same old way of doing things.”

“Stop thinking and just do what’s natural for you, instead of what’s expected. Some of our best work is done when we least expect it.”

“You can’t perform perfectly under the watch of critical eyes. When you don’t force perfection, it happens by itself, spontaneously. Great things happen when you least suspect it.”

“Whenever you watch over someone you make them self-conscious and uncreative. It’s like trying to teach a child. If you let them alone they will usually figure it out themselves and it will be great.” – See

Myself: Pt. 3

Getting a little used to writing about myself now…

I am a self taught and self proclaimed Zen Buddhist and I’m not sure how to explain that; but it is who I am and how I like to see myself. I see Buddhism in a way different from anything I’ve ever encountered and I like to instill that aspect in my work as a blogger as much as possible.

Being transgender isn’t a huge aspect of my blogging perhaps that’s a good thing, although I would really like to instill hope and inspiration to other trans readers. I look for other trans bloggers which has been cool but it would be nice to have more in my reader to be quite honest. I love everyone and even moreso for any oppressed population.

I love reading others poetry on my feed, sometimes seeing reflections of myself or something of great value: a learning experience. I seek out artists and writers, activists and poets, filmmakers and photographers…any art can inspire me so continue that list with your positive imagination. I wish the world was more artistic and less materialistic. I find a mass amount of it in society and we should all try to change this…

Nina*

With the Flow: Zen Stories

imagesA Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall.

Onlookers feared for his life.

Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls.

People asked him how he managed to survive…

“I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me.

Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl.

This is how I survived.”

 

-Zen Story

Elbow-River-and-Falls-Kananaskis-Country-Alberta-Canada