Scherzo

Not a lot effort, but the right effort. Here's a tiny story:

An old Zen master used to work in the temple gardens every morning. And every morning he would see a young novice rush through the garden in the direction of the meditation hall. On day the old master stopped the novice and asked him: “Where are you going in such a hurry?” I am going to the meditation hall in order to sit in meditation for the next twelve hours”. The old master seemed bewildered. “Why are you meditating so much?” “So that I get enlightened” the young monk replied. “Ah!” said the old master.

The next day, as the young monk once again rushed through the garden he noticed the old Zen master sitting in the grass by a large pile of bricks. He had a piece of sand paper in one of his hands, a brick in the other, and was vigorously sanding the brick. The young monk could not contain his curiosity, and stopped to ask the old man: “What are you doing, reverend master?” I am polishing bricks. And I intend to do it for twelve hours every day.” “Yes, I can see that” said the young monk, “but why?”

The master gave the novice a sly look and said in a whisper: “So that I can make a mirror!”

I like this story somehow. I guess the morale of the story is very straightforward and self explanatory.

Well. Back to the real world, the sun was blazing and irritatingly scorching today. The sun was relentlessly evil. We played tennis with the older, (much more skillful) bunch of people. Initially I was quite hyped up but halfway through I realized the sun had made me perspire so much that I constantly have perspiration on my face! And then of all times, in the midst of all that sweaty pandemonium I actually hit ball two levels down into an inaccessible car park. I walked several thousand miles to get there, and I suddenly discovered a stairway back up which took less than 2 minutes to get back to the courts (albeit all that stinky smell and whitish disgusting liquid spilled all over the ground which I highly suspect to be dried paint). By the time I got up, I totally had no mood to play. A bad headache was starting to emerge and it was annoying. Certainly not life threatening, but, it was pretty annoying. So much that I sat out for the next hour or so. And so I did not play much. What a wasted day!

And so now, I am left with a month. My approach. Playfully. Like a scherzo.