The Doorway to Zen

A Chan practitioner went to visit a Master who lived in the mountains.

“Master,” asked the young practitioner when she finally arrived, “could you show me the doorway to Chan?”

Instead of answering her question directly, Master asked, “did you pass the valley on your way here?”

“I did,” answered the young woman. It took her days to walk through the valley.

“Did you hear the sounds in the valley?”

“I did.”

“Good,” said Master with a smile, “they have already shown you the doorway to Chan.”

Brook: There are two angles to interpret this story. From the simple angle, Chan is about being present – to see, hear, feel, and sense. Since the young woman could hear the sounds of the valley, it meant she was aware of her surroundings, which is the first step towards practicing Chan.

There is another angle to interpret the first story. In the valley, all the sounds, distant and close by, are all mixed and echoing together. Some sounds are certainly more pleasant than others. The woman might have heard birds chirping in the woods and people fighting far away at the same time. We also do not know her experience in the valley. Maybe the trip was great. Time slipped as she was beholding the beautiful view around her. Or it was disappointing. The weather was awful and all she could hear was howling wind and pattering rain as she was pulling her feet off the mud every step of the way.

But in Chan, there is no good or bad. Each experience is an opportunity to acknowledge and connect with what is. Acceptance is the step after awareness. Western novel The Knight with A Rusty Armor explains acceptance beautifully.

(After a Knight’s armor had mysteriously stuck onto him, he went to see the wise magician Merlin. He learned that in order to take off his armor, he had to go on a lone crusade and claim his true self underneath his armor. Before his journey began, Merlin offered him a drink.)

[The Knight] sipped the liquid through the reed. The first sips tasted bitter, the later ones more pleasant, and the last swallows quite delicious. Grateful, the knight handed the cup back to Merlin.

“What is it?” asked the Knight.

“Life,” explained Merlin.

“Life?”

“Yes. Did the liquid not at first seem bitter? Then, as you tasted more of it, was it not pleasant?”

The Knight nodded. “Yes, and the last swallows were quite delicious.”

“That was when you began to accept what you were drinking.”

“Are you saying that life is good when you accept it?”

“Is it not?” countered Merlin, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

#Acceptance #Mindfulness