Ox-herding 3

I haven’t met Lynn J Kelly (yet) but do consider her a spiritual friend and teacher. I haven’t met Martine Batchelor (yet) but consider her, and her husband Stephen, spiritual mentors and teachers.

And so, I can highly recommend the blogpost below. May you be edified and encouraged by it as I have.

4 thoughts on “Ox-herding 3

  1. camilla wells paynter's avatarcamilla wells paynter

    Love this: ” When we make it past the barrier of “I can’t do this”, we are well on the way. ” Whatever
    this” is, I might add. ❤️

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    1. Patrick Cole's avatarPatrick Cole Post author

      What a perfect comment, Camilla. Martine Batchelor informs us in her book, LET GO – A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits (c) 2007 Wisdom Publications:

      “I went to my Zen Master, Kusan Sunim, to ask his advice. He told me … I should return to my object of meditation, which, in the Korean Zen Tradition, was the question ‘What is this?'”

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      1. camilla wells paynter's avatarcamilla wells paynter

        Interesting! When my hub fell off the roof two years ago, and I began, just barely began, to contemplate and reel from the panoply of possible outcomes as we awaited paramedics, I told myself, “This is what we’re doing now. Whatever this is, it’s what we’re doing now.” This helped me cope, and while I am still asking myself the question, it has never occurred to me to hold “What is this?” as an object of meditation. Thank you, Patrick. I will do so now. For surely, it is more (and less) than I often perceive it to be.

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