The female student asked the Zen Master, “I can’t seem to love myself. It’s as though my self doesn’t want to be loved at all. Instead, all I feel is emotional pain. What can I do about it?” The Zen Master replied, “Sounds a bit quirky, if you ask me. According to you, there’s an ‘I’ that’s trying to love some entity it calls a ‘self.’ Then, all the ‘I’ feels is ‘pain.’ And finally, the ‘I’ wants to know what ‘it’ can do about it.” The student was perplexed still, so the Master continued, “Get rid of this notion of ‘self’ and let the ‘I’ keep all the love. There is no self, okay? Problem solved. “As for feeling emotional pain, that sounds too painful. Stop feeling this pain and instead feel peace. Don’t you see that the ‘I’ in you wants love but is giving it to a false entity, and that the ‘I’ in you is feeling pain when it wants none? This is like wishing to be lie down in the soft green meadows, so you have someone else do it for you while you go plunge your hands into a cactus.” The student then understood and at that moment, she became enlightened. ~Danielle Sainte-Marie
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 14:54:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015