Among the students who participated in the meditation camp at the Qiandao Lake Longchuan Bay International Meditation Center, there was a very young student, and there was a senior with him. In order to meditate better and reduce the external factors, I didn’t look at them directly, so for the first few days, I thought they were about the same age, probably not very old, because they were both wearing fashionable and colorful jackets and had very good figures. Thin.
I even thought they were monks from a country in Southeast Asia. They were all bald! One of them even wore an autumn hat on his head every day. He seemed to be particularly afraid of the cold and was very curious about everything.
One day, during the break between classes, I was doing Zen dance in the restaurant, and the two of them were talking behind my back, saying words that I couldn’t quite understand, which made me feel that they were from a foreign country.
I have been learning Zhongdao Zen dance with teacher Xinmei. I have online classes twice a week. Harvest.
When I first started learning from the teacher, I was unsteady on one leg and wobbling. This gave me a better understanding of Zen dance. It is not just about doing movements and dancing to the music. It’s not easy to dance Zen dance well. It’s not something that can be accomplished in a day!
I have always felt that my body is quite flexible. I have been doing yoga for more than ten years and do yoga every day. With such basic skills, I am full of confidence. But actually jumping off is not like that.
In this case, I will learn from the teacher honestly and without fail. No matter how simple the action is, I will not despise it. If I feel that I can do it, I will not do it. Instead, I will do the simple action seriously and repeat it. Do it, do it every day, and hand in homework on time. Slowly, I can stand firm, rotate freely, and my hand and foot movements are also coordinated.
This greatly increased my confidence. My classmates and teachers all said that I had made the most progress. Everyone’s encouragement gave me greater motivation and made me realize that hard work pays off.
Lao Tzu tells us in Chapter 64 of the Tao Te Ching:
“A nine-story tower rises from tired soil;
A journey of a thousand miles, It starts with a single step.
Those who do will lose, and those who persist will lose.
The sage will not fail because he does not do anything.
The people will not fail. When you are engaged in something, you will often fail after a few successes.
If you are careful to the end, you will never fail.
Therefore, the sage does not want what he wants, and does not value hard-to-find things.
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If you don’t learn, you will repeat what everyone has done,
You should not dare to do anything to support the nature of all things.”
I understand what Lao Tzu means. He said that we should always maintain a humble and prudent attitude and not be arrogant. Whether it is a tall building or a journey of thousands of miles, it all starts from scratch. When we have nothing, we can be humble, low-key, and unassuming, but when we have achievements, can we still maintain this mentality?
Most people will be proud, thinking that they have built high-rise buildings and have traveled thousands of miles, so they become complacent and even show off, and lose their original intention, which is not far from failure. . Therefore, Lao Tzu said: "When people are engaged in business, they often fail after a few successes. If you are careful to the end as you started, you will never fail."
Lao Tzu also tells us another important mentality in this chapter: Don't think that any achievements I have achieved are the result of my efforts. We must realize that there are various other factors that contribute to achieving success. Lao Tzu reminds us that there must be the support of the earth under a tall building. A journey of a thousand miles is also made step by step by two feet, so we must be grateful. Don't be arrogant and arrogant by taking all the credit and achievements as your own. Failure to be grateful will eventually lead to failure. So Lao Tzu said: "Those who do will lose, those who persist will lose. This is because the sage has no failures because he has no motives, and he has no failures because he has no persistence."
When it comes to learning Zen dance, I maintain the attitude of a primary school student. Learning mentality makes me happier and more progressive the more I learn. I also gained many like-minded friends.
Some friends saw the homework I posted in the Zen dance group and added me on WeChat to discuss my experience and understanding of learning Zen dance. When asked how you dance so well, I will share my experience with them. It’s very simple! If you study seriously with the teacher, you will be able to dance well.
The biggest benefit of practicing Zen dance is that it unknowingly dredges Qi and blood, opens up the meridians, and invisibly adjusts the body, thereby gaining health.
A classmate, who is 69 years old this year, could not lift his arms above his head when he first started learning from the teacher. After half a month, he could straighten them. Her joy infected me too, I was so happy for her.
Zen dance attracted me so deeply that I reluctantly put aside three weeks of study and attended a meditation camp. But in the end, I still made up my mind. There are gains and losses, and you can only let go if you can afford it.
Before leaving, I imitated the teacher's actions. Although the teacher said that what he taught was the method, not the exact same movements as her, but I think it is like learning calligraphy. There is a process of copying at the beginning, and then you can develop and create something slowly. So while following the teacher to learn the method, I also followed the teacher's movements meticulously, practicing one movement or a set of movements repeatedly. This is my own method.
So when I have time, I dance for a while as if no one else is watching. Especially in the first few days, when my heart has not completely calmed down, I feel that the time is not difficult to pass, so I dance more often.
I am used to walking along the quiet boardwalk to the mountainside path opposite the restaurant to dance Zen dance after dinner. There were tall trees on both sides of this path, so it looked particularly quiet and quiet. Few people walked by it at this time. I faced the setting sun slowly and watched the night fall gradually, covering the mountains and surrounding the mountains. The academy in the mountains also shrouded the path little by little in the dark night. When the lights in the restaurant opposite became brighter and brighter, it was time for me to go back.
Slowly, with the deepening of the course and the deepening of reading the wordless book of nature, unknowingly, I also found that the number of times I danced Zen dance became less, so let it go. Naturally!
I found that gradually, even without speaking or communicating, or even looking at each other, I became closer and closer to the students, as if they were familiar old friends, close family members, and it seemed that language was also Superfluous, even eye contact is superfluous. You seem to know everyone very well.
The pair of seniors who I regarded as coming from a "foreign country" turned out to be very different in age. They looked more like a father and son than brothers. After my son attended a few classes, he came out to the meditation hall for a few days. My father sometimes communicated with his son, but they were all equal and respectful. I did not blame my son too much or even get angry because he skipped classes, nor did it affect my attitude towards learning. .
Once, the class was full of people, and the son was standing under the eaves. His father looked at him and indicated with his eyes that he wanted to go to class? The son shook his head. He was neither angry about being forced nor ashamed about not going to class. He was just so calm and naturally looked at his father with trusting eyes and shook his head. The father only extended an invitation, and instead of feeling frustrated or disappointed at being rejected, he nodded trustingly without any intention of blaming.
I saw this scene, although it was only for a moment, but it was fixed in my heart. The way they communicated with each other and the emotions they expressed moved me deeply. Isn’t this the embodiment of the “Tao” that Lao Tzu talks about?
"Be born without being,
act without relying on it,
grow without killing,
this is called Xuande."
This is the virtue of Tao! Tao transforms and educates all things and is the mother of all things, but it will not ask you to listen to me and say loudly that I am your benefactor, you must be grateful and obey me! Tao is not like this, he just waits silently, has no regrets, and gives infinite respect and freedom.
I have also witnessed other fathers and sons coming to participate in meditation. The son protested against sitting quietly in the meditation hall and asked to read outside. The dean had no choice but to respect his choice, but the father couldn't let go of his son. After class, he immediately ran out of the meditation hall and looked around for his son with anxious eyes. When he saw his son, he let out a deep breath and calmed down.
My son first started reading on the stone roller outside the meditation hall. As the sun gradually became stronger, he moved to the dining room. Later, as the weather got warmer, he read under the thatched shed on the plank road.
The father's heart also changes with the change of his son's position. When he can't see his son, he feels anxious and helpless, but when he sees his son, he feels relieved. My father was responsible for cleaning the leaves on the boardwalk. I saw that my father was very careful when cleaning the hay shed where his son studied, and every corner was cleaned. The father's care and concern for his son are clearly visible.
As the days passed, my son read one book after another. The father became more and more uneasy. Finally one day at noon, the father took his son on the path up the mountain. They obviously didn't want to disturb others, so they kept their voices down and were restrained. But the mountain was still too quiet, and the sound of conversations still came through the valley.
The father asked: "When can you enter the meditation hall?"
The son replied: "When I finish reading all the books.!"
The father was obviously very interested. Angry because I didn’t see them walking down the mountain for a long time. As expected, the conversation had no effect and the son was still studying.
But my son slowly became a little distracted while reading, and he couldn't make up his mind to read it. He started wandering around, talking to the class teacher and passing notes when he had something to do.
It seems that my son has a feeling that he is different, which makes him unable to read anymore.
A few days later, the father took his son up the mountain again. A few days later, I could no longer see my son who was studying. His father left. My father also left the next day and was nowhere to be seen. In the end, they did not persist until the end of the meditation. From the beginning to the end, the son never entered the meditation hall to study as his father wished.
I don’t know what happened, but it seems inevitable that such a result will occur.
Lao Tzu tells us in Chapter 74 of the Tao Te Ching:
"Those who are strong will not be allowed to die, and I will regard them as godfathers."
Lao Tzu is here again Chapter 42 of the "Tao Te Ching" tells us this:
"There are always those who are in charge of killing, and those who are in charge of killing are often killed by the husband.
This is called a great craftsman.
It is rare that the master craftsman of the husband’s generation will not hurt his hand.”
I repeatedly warn us that if we show strength and domineering, and show strict control, we will ultimately hurt ourselves.
This father loves his son so much in his heart, but he turns this love into controlling his son and becoming strong. As a result, his son becomes farther and farther away from him. In the end, the father gets nothing. The rebellious son also left himself heartbroken.
The world of difference in the relationship between the two fathers and sons also made me realize how important it is to learn advanced wisdom. I also realized the compassionate heart of Lao Tzu, a wise ancestor, who left such precious wisdom to future generations.
But I also know that there are too few people who can truly understand what he said, so he sighed:
"My words are easy to understand, very easy to understand. Do it. No one in the world can know it, and no one can do it."
"Those who know me are worthy of me."
This pair comes from. The true identity of the foreign father and son was revealed only at the last day of the sharing meeting.
It turns out that they are from Hainan, and their clothes were donated by everyone. They wore all the thick clothes they could wear. No wonder these fancy costumes capture my imagination! I almost thought they were aliens.
And they are not father and son, but they are comparable to father and son. The son is a street child who was adopted by his father while he was wandering. The son's mother has a mental disorder and cannot cook, and his father has to work. When he was very young, his son had to cook for the three members of the family.
The adoptive father once personally came to the child’s hometown to visit the child’s biological parents. He was deeply moved by their attitude towards their son.
No matter what kind of food his son cooked, whether it was dry, watery, or burnt, his father never blamed him and ate it with joy.
The adoptive father said with emotion: "Now I see what unconditional, unasked love is."
Only then did I understand why this exchange between father and son I was so touched. Didn’t they also show unconditional love? ! Isn't that respect? ! There is no dominance, only trust and trust.
The father said that everyone cared about his son and gave him a lot of delicious food. My son only gave me a cookie today and a piece of candy tomorrow.
I also saw a scene. During an outdoor Zen class, the son not only brought his own blanket and foam pad to the platform, but also brought his father’s blanket and foam pad over, silently. The support and love is palpable.
Everyone also likes this junior student very much. Although he does not always go to the meditation hall to attend classes, he does not stay idle or take a nap. Instead, he silently cuts out the raw materials used to make laundry detergent. Soapberry.
The detergent used in the academy for washing clothes and dishes is homemade, made from the seeds of the soapberry tree.
In autumn, pick up the transparent longan-sized soapberries, then cut them in the middle with scissors, remove the black core in the middle, and boil the outer transparent peel in a large pot before loading. The bottles become laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid, which are clean, non-toxic and do not pollute the environment.
In the meditation hall, cut soapberry skins and black fruit cores are placed in categories, and a large bag of unprocessed soapberry seeds is placed next to it.
This young junior contracted the job of cutting soapberries. He was cutting it when we were in class, and he was still cutting it after class was over. There were more and more people buzzing around the hay shed, and then they moved to the passage in the yard leading to the valley in the backyard.
One day, when I was walking from the yard to the valley, I saw my junior brother sitting on the side facing the wall. There were three pots in front of him. One pot contained cut soapberry skins and another There are soapberry seeds in one basin, and another basin contains branches, leaves and other sundries brought out by soapberry. The three basins are neatly placed, and the junior brother is happily and leisurely cutting out the soapnut seeds one by one. Soapy seed.
The bag containing soapberries is placed against the wall. In the black plastic box for fruit are soapberries poured out of the bag. The junior brother first grabs a handful of soapberries in his hand. When you see weeds, leaves and other debris, first pick them out and put them in a pot, then grab a handful of cleaned soapberries in your hand, hold a soapberry between your thumb and index finger, and then use scissors to cut it Cut it open, just cut it open at once, and then pour the cut soapberry core into the pot for converting the core. With a slight click, a shiny black core fell into the pot. . Then he held another soapberry between his thumb and forefinger, and another black core fell out.
The repeated movements this time are very simple, but the person doing the cutting is very serious and focused, as if he is doing the most interesting work in the world. Everyone who walked by, not just me, was attracted by the little junior brother.
By staying in the present moment and uniting your mind and heart, you can turn stone into gold and turn ordinary things into sacred treasures.
I was deeply infected. This is an angel sent by God to teach us how to live in the present!
I feel very ashamed. I am usually in a hurry, busy and rushing. I just want to finish the job at once and then move on to the next job. I am anxious about every job. I can't always feel at ease, which makes my life miserable.
I always want to do big things and hate the small things at the moment. But I didn’t accomplish big things, and I didn’t do small things well. This is the life I have lived.
The junior brother is still cutting soapberries as if no one else is watching, as if he is playing a beautiful piece of music, intoxicated by it, and also infecting us.
My footsteps also stopped. I did not go forward and rush to the valley in the distance. Instead, I stopped in the courtyard of the academy and listened to my junior brother pruning Wushu. The son's voice slowly walked out of me step by step.
Unite your mind and heart and live the sacredness of life. Teacher Guo Yongjin’s words echo in your heart.
Meditation gradually becomes more enjoyable, and life becomes more enjoyable. Let’s start with the 21-day meditation!