Hello. My name is Rob. I like to practice Zen, write haiku, share quotes, take pictures, make coffee, and drink coffee. May this site be dedicated to sharing these interests.

"Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen.”-Bodhidharma

"When I chop wood, I chop wood. When I carry water, I carry water."-Layman Pang

"You make, You get."-Zen Master Byok Am Sunim

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Zen Story: Ikkyu 'Attention'

One day a man of the people said to the Zen master Ikkyu: “Master,will you please write for me some maxims of the highest wisdom?” 
Ikkyu immediately took his brush and wrote the word “Attention.”
“Is that all?” asked the man. “Will you not add something more?”Ikkyu then wrote twice running: “Attention. Attention.”“Well,” remarked the man rather irritably, “I really don’t see much depth or subtlety in what you have just written.”Then Ikkyu wrote the same word three times running: “Attention. Attention. Attention.”Half angered, the man declared: “What does that word attention mean anyway?”And Ikkyu answered, gently: “Attention means attention.”

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