A Zen initiate was meditating for years. And whenever he would come to his master, whatsoever experience he would bring, the master would reject it saying, “This is all nonsense. You go back and meditate again.” 

One day the master came to the hut of the disciple. He was sitting in a perfect buddha posture. The master shook him and said, “What are you doing here? If we need stone buddhas here, we have many in the temple. Just by sitting like a stone buddha, you will not attain meditation. Just by stilling the body, your mind is not going to disappear because it is through the mind you are enforcing a certain discipline on the body. And anything done by the mind is only going to strengthen the mind. It will be nourishment for the mind.” 

A year passed and the master came again. He found the disciple sitting under a tree. He was almost in a kind of euphoria: enjoying the morning breeze, and the sun, with closed eyes, thinking that he is meditating. The master picked up a brick and started rubbing it on the stone in front of the disciple. It made such a disturbance! At some point, the disciple could stand it no longer. He opened his eyes and shouted, “What are you doing? Are you trying to drive me crazy?” 

The master said, “I am trying to make a mirror out of this brick. I think if I go on rubbing it enough it will become a mirror.” 

The disciple laughed. “I have always suspected you are a little mad. Now it is proved! A brick can never become a mirror. You can go on rubbing it on a stone for lives together, but the brick is going to remain a brick.” 

The master said, “This shows some intelligence. Then what are you doing? For years you have been trying to make meditation out of the mind. It is just like me trying to make a mirror out of this brick.” 

Suddenly the master threw the brick into a pond just by the side of the disciple. It made a great splash, and the very sound of it was enough to do the miracle. Something awakened in the disciple – a sleep was broken, a dream was shattered. He became alert. And for the first time, he tasted something of meditation. 

The master immediately said, “This is it.”

Enjoy a free download of the song, ‘Stone Buddhas’, from the album, “Daydreams”.

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