The Art of Walking

Tatsen, the zen master, often walked many miles to travel between monasteries where he would hold his popular discourses on zen. His disciples, which were many, would follow him around and often discussed among themselves how difficult it was to keep up with him on his long travels. Each day he walked for so long that most of them, when they reached the monastery, would be too tired to move let alone attend to the various tasks and the prayers. The master on the other hand always seemed fresh and ready for any task. So one day, a young apostle asked Tatsen didn't he ever felt tired after his long walks. Tatsen smiled and asked the young monk;
'Are you tired?'
'Yes master, very tired'
'Did you walk more than me today?'
'No'
'So your tiredness is not because of the walk but the way you reached here'
'Let me explain. When you took your first step today morning you must have surely worried how much you would have to walk today. Thereon your mind must have kept worrying, asking you questions, complaining, constantly keeping close track of how hot it was, how you were sweating, how thirsty you were and how you needed to take a break and rest. But then even as you you rested, it worried about how you would have to walk faster so you could catch up with me and so on. So now you see, you are not tired because of all the walking you have done, you are tired because of all the running your mind has been doing since this morning. So tomorrow when you walk, just walk and let your mind sleep, let it do all the resting for you. That way no journey, and for that matter any task, you undertake will ever be tiring.'


* all the zen stories on this blog are works of fiction. My zen masters are all very real to me but did not exist in real life. I however remain indebted to all the many zen masters who have since time immemorial guided that essential thought that is the source from which these stories spring.