3 Insightful Zen Buddhist Stories That Will Provide Uplifting Life Lessons
Is life like a cup of tea?
I used to be a very stubborn kid. Always set in my ways, thinking I had it all figured out. Yet, life often throws you curve balls. That’s when you discover how far from reality you really are.
One defining moment in my life came when I read Joshua Waitzkin’s book The Art of Learning. Waitzkin was a former child chess prodigy, turned champion martial artist. As a kid, he even had a movie made about him. In the book, he details how he was able to master various aspects of disciplines as varied as chess and martial arts.
There was a passage that struck me. When describing his first steps into push-hands tai-chi, he noticed how important it is to get your ego out of the way. Most people didn’t succeed, because they always had a need to be correct.
“While I learned with open pores — no ego in the way — it seemed that many other students were frozen in place, repeating their errors over and over, unable to improve because of a fear of releasing old habits. When Chen made suggestions, they would explain their thinking in an attempt to justify themselves. They were locked up by the need to be correct.“ — Joshua Waitzkin
