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A man travels to live at a Buddhist monastery with the hopes of learning to become enlightened. Upon arrival he meets the head monk and asks “How long will it
by bootsz 8y ago
A man travels to live at a Buddhist monastery with the hopes of learning to become enlightened.
Upon arrival he meets the head monk and asks “How long will it take me to reach enlightenment?”
“Hmm...”, says the monk, “...perhaps 10 years.”
Feeling this was far too long to wait, the man replies: “But, what if I work twice as hard? Devote myself twice as much to the practice? How long then?”
“20 years,” replies the monk.
“What? I do not understand,” says the man. “If I’m willing to try even harder, surely that should mean I can attain enlightenment faster?”
To which the monk says, “I think for you it will probably require about 30 years.”
I heard this story during a talk from the Audio Dharma podcast. I don’t remember it exactly but this was the general gist of it. Felt relevant here.
- vram22 8y agoI read a similar one: A man goes to get advice from a master who is sitting on the beach. He asks the master: How can I get enlightened? The master draws a word in the sand with his finger: meditation The man asks: Can you explain it in more detail? The monk draws: Meditation The man gets agitated and again asks: Can you give me more guidance about it? The monk draws in larger letters in the sand: MEDITATION
- stephengillie 8y agoI first heard this quote from David Carradine in the TV series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. Cain was telling this to his impatient teenage son. Both characters were monks in a Buddhist temple in California.
- ma2rten 8y agoI heard a similar quote recently, I don't know the source: "I meditate one hour every day, except when I'm busy; then I meditate two hours."
- bootsz 8y agoLove it
- Scarbutt 8y agoGhandi
- kristiandupont 8y agoThis is the variation that I have heard and enjoy: you should always meditate 20 minute per day. Unless you don't have the time, in which case you should meditate for an hour.
- lihaciudaniel 8y agoI think the universal time to anything is about 25-20 for amateur levels. You never know when you will go full dedicated to something so at least don't lose amateur skills.
- loceng 8y agoThis is the difficult with the ego mind, it wants to stay alive - it wants to "do" instead of to settle. Practices to letting the ego mind settle, to letting mental coping mechanisms dissipate - replacing them with healthy coping when necessary, is a major key to health. I once met someone who was doing their doctorate on meditation - however they didn't have a meditation practice. Certainly seemed like they were being called or drawn to meditate, yet their ego mind found a way to avoid it to stay alive/active..