The Art of Letting Go
A glimpse of Zen wisdom for taking the first step
Qieci was a Chinese Zen master who lived in later Liang dynasty. He was famous for his unconventional traits that distinguished him from other Zen masters. It is said that he had no desire to call himself a Zen master and gather disciples around him. Instead, he wandered the streets laughing, with a linen sack on his shoulders. This sack contained stuff like fruit, candy and doughnuts. When small children gathered around him he gave them these things as gifts.
Once another Zen master approached Qieci and asked few questions.
“What is the essence of Zen?”
As the answer, Qieci immediately dropped his sack on the ground silently.
“So, in what way can it be achieved?”
Qieci, at once swung the sack over his shoulders and continued going his way.
In Buddhist context that incident can be interpreted like this.
Simply put, the sole purpose of a Buddhist should be to end the cycle of birth. This is known as attaining nirvana. And to attain nirvana, one has to get rid of all the defilements (desire, hatred and ignorance) that cause the impurity of mind. That’s what called enlightenment in Buddhism.
In here, the sack filled with food items represents these defilements. So, when asked about the essence, Qieci drops it on the ground meaning that it’s all about getting over every defilement and being enlightened.
But when asked about the actualization of Zen, he picks up the sack again and begins to continue his usual routine. Qieci silently conveys a very important thing in this gesture.
The significance of Zen is getting rid of every defilement. But having this epiphany doesn’t magically erase every reason that causes reincarnation.
The clever disciple is aware that he should let go of the sack. But he has to carry it for a while till he reaches his ultimate goal eventually. In this case, he should empty the sack first.
This teaching is also applicable in the secular context. Often, humans have to deal with stuffs that steal their comfort of lives. Be it a physical or a mental illness, be it a toxic relationship, the distress can come in many disguises. And almost every time, we humans have the mental capacity to identify the roots of the issue and become aware that once we got rid of the problem, this discomfort will be gone. In other words, we have to let go of certain things to regain our comfort.
However, the common mistake most of us make is rather than working towards the solution with patience, we tend to act desperately with the intention of getting things done as fast as possible. And this type of behaviour very often leads us to frustration when things don’t go our way.
No doubt everybody deserves happiness and our minds crave serenity. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Yet the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit. And most importantly it’s always worth the wait.
