#3. Be aware of your power and do not use it.
Sometimes the world can be a complicated and hostile place. And that’s why it’s often best to change.
Changing your way of facing the world is challenging but much more achievable than changing the world to suit you.
I changed thanks to Zen, and now I am much happier.
Here are some tips that I have extracted from my readings of Zen spiritual masters such as Dogen, Shunmyo Masuno, or Suzuki Roshi. And that I have applied to my life; and they work, they make you live happier.
Let’s start.
1. Start to see the extraordinary in the ordinary
We go on vacation to recharge our batteries and be able to continue our busy lives with renewed energy. But when we come back from that vacation, we end up more exhausted than we left — it’s as if we need a break to rest from the break.
And that happens because of our relentless pursuit of novelty, excitement, and making our life an adventure movie. Because that’s what Hollywood and advertising sold us, and if we don’t have a glamorous life, we are losers.
But that’s all bullshit.
Shunmyo Masuno, in his famous book Zen: The Art of Simple Living, says that he gets up every day around 5 a.m. and opens the temple windows while filling his lungs with air. At 6:30 a.m, he practices a Buddhist ritual, then has breakfast, and then goes about the business of that particular day.
Shunmyo, despite his strict routine, tells us that no day is like the previous one, and that is why the monks perform their morning Zazen meditation practice, to perceive the slight seasonal changes of each day.
This is finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.
We live in a magical world full of miracles, and we don’t realize it. If we did, we would live much happier lives.
There is an old Zen anecdote in which some disciples ask their master to perform a miracle. The master bangs on a table and tells them to look out the window. And it is just dawn.
The pupils say to him, “master, we see nothing extraordinary,” and the master replies, “If you do not see the miracle of life every dawn, you are so foolish that I cannot teach you anything.”
And you, do you realize the extraordinary miracles that happen in your life?
I hallucinate when I go to the shower, and hot water comes out; it is miraculous 🙂
2. Stop doing it for the money, and the money will come
In the Gakudo Yojin Shu (the study of body and mind), the legendary master Dogen writes,
“The mind that seeks Buddha is the mind that recognizes the impermanence of the world. When one recognizes the ephemeral nature of the world, neither the self-centered mind nor the mind that pursues glory and riches can arise.”
For Master Dogen, all worldly possessions are Ku (impermanent); therefore, we will lose them sooner or later. And if you think about it, it is true.
Therefore, why worry so much about material things?
If we understood that money is an energy, we would stop living so unfocused and unhappy.
Some time ago, I listened to an interview with Elon Musk, and he said that people did not understand the economy well, that if someone went with millions of dollars to a desert island, at most, he would get warm by burning the bills.
In conclusion, according to Elon, the economy’s key is generating products and services that people demand. And then the money will come.
Going back to Dogen, DO NOT HAVE YOUR MIND FOCUSED ON YOURSELF, DO NOT PURSUE GLORY, NOR PURSUE WEALTH.
Pursue what is permanent, change.
And satisfy the needs that the chaos of change produces around you with products and services in line with the market, that is, helping others. If you do, you will live much more prosperous and happier.
3. Be aware of your power and do not use it
In Eugen Herrigle’s book, Zen in the Art of Archery, I found a little anecdote of Master Suzuki Roshi taken from another book, The Art of Peace.
The master was finishing a lecture, and a student said, “I have realized that there is a lot of power in these practices,” The master replied, “don’t use it.”
Having power gives you self-confidence. And that is a superpower.
There are many current versions of this teaching, especially Jordan Petterson’s famous phrase, “You should be a monster, and then you should learn how to control it.”
And as Spiderman’s uncle would say, “With every power comes great responsibility”. 😉
Jokes aside, having power makes you happier.
For example,
- Practicing Karate or Judo, Jujitsu, or another martial art, makes you feel more confident.
- Having good savings in the bank relieves a lot of the mental stress of day-to-day life.
The point is to know that you would know how to defend yourself when the time comes and that you have money to survive if things go wrong.
And the same happens with everything; the important thing about power is to know that you have it, that it is there. So you don’t need to use it to impose yourself; you need to have it to increase your self-confidence.
It makes you feel very calm and happy.
A virtual hug
AG
Leave a Reply