Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We usually think that we are calm and can be calm in any situation, until something bad happens, and we realize that we are not calm at all and have no ability to stay calm in that situation.

I think that is true to anyone.

How does a soldier stay calm in battle?

Green soldiers, new to battlefield, are not calm in battle. They are scared to death and make all the wrong moves. Gradually they are familiar with battle noises and bangs and have some sense of what’s going on and know what to do when hearing what, they become much calmer.

That is to say, you can be calm in difficult situations only when you have been in difficult situations many times and have learned to handle those situations.

Even in Zen training, the students don’t just sit and meditate and therefore become calm. The teacher often puts the students in difficult situations to handle, such as giving some koans that really do not have an answer so the students will feel they are stupid for a long time, or criticizing a student in front of the class so he learns to handle dishonor, some teachers scream, yell, hit the floor with his staff to startle the student into concentration…

That is between teacher and students. But the students of course also learn to be humble and calm with everyone else – when people disgrace them, shame them, humiliate them, they are supposed to maintain a calm, gentle and humble attitude.

With these real-life trainings in difficult situations, plus the deep understanding of the fleeting nature of everything – honor, praise, truth, untruth – which makes life more or less an illusive blip on a beginningless and endless forever time circle, the students would get used to an attitude of facing everything with total calmness.

That means, if you want to be calm all the time, practice facing difficult situations with calmness. Everyday, when people scorn you, scream and yell at you, debase you, dishonor you, humiliate you, use those opportunities to practice humility, gentleness, and calmness.

No practice, no gaining.

You can’t be calm by only doing sitting Zen. Zen is a living attitude. You have to live life with Zen every minute of the day. Then, hopefully one day you will be calm as a true Zen master.

Read Zen story Is that so? about Zen master Hakuin’s gentle calmness.

Wish we all live in Zen every minute of the day.

With compassion,

Hoành

© copyright 2024
Trần Đình Hoành
Permitted for non-commercial use
www.dotchuoinon.com