Class reading

Even the Masters have Masters

From today’s reading we learnt that even the great masters learn from their masters. Joe Hyams, the author of Zen and the Martial Arts shares his experiences of karate in his personal life.

He was motivated by his masters to become like them and when he was at that stage as they were, he excelled so much in what he did. He took the same mind set from karate into other activities like tennis and even his business. He then found himself excelling in those as well.

He also talked about the importance of not wasting time by doing ¨nothing in a productive way¨ which meant meditating. Zen had created such a close relationship with his master, Jim, that Jim could read Joe´s mind and could see when he was loosing his temper during training and all. He would tell him, “Patience let´s you wait for your opponent to make a mistakes even when problems arise you will be able acknowledge them, then find a resolution.” He also said to him, ”When your body is willing, then a lot of things are possible, but if it's not cooperative, then it becomes heavy, making it difficult to do any fighting.”

As the chapter stated, ¨When meditating you have to free your mind and adjust. Be you and don't let anything distract you from that silent moment.¨