I love those two stories, How true! and the idea of not attaching good or bad to an event and accepting it just as another day or night. Cool man, please keep writing

I do understand your thought to say, ” Conceptually, there is no such thing called ‘zen mind’ “. You are right according to you. I know you would also understand my thoughts and beliefs of saying there is ‘Zen mind’. I am right according to me. At any point of time there can be two people who are right and opposite! May be! Why not I believe you same as you believe me or not

With moral stories, the one thing we should not do is to take things by the letter. You should understand the lesson and move on. When we’re told Ramayana and Mahabharata, we don’t apply logic. We just try to understand the morals. It’s something like that. For some reason, in your eyes, the farmer looks like a boring man devoid of emotions. That need not be the case. Just because someone is level-headed does not mean they don’t give the joy, fun, love, happiness etc. All that he does is not to get overwhelmed by the circumstances – be it good or bad. A better living example is Sachin Tendulkar. You call him a God or a liability, he’s not influenced. He simply goes on unperturbed.

Finally, in such stories, if you look for the logic, you’ll miss the truth. Don’t miss the truth. The truth is “this too shall pass”.

You said “ships are safe and sound in shores but they’re not built for that purpose”. Very fine indeed. So easy to find the purpose for a man-made object. You can find a purpose for every man-made lifeless object. What would be the purpose of man or his life?

I agree, is there a moment we disagreed with each other (I know it is dangerous to run business this way) It is sequencing, comparing & analyzing. But not always sequencing and analyzing is required. The meaning and the way you look at it completely differs if you analyse it without sequencing!

I completely agree “Power of mind is always important than any skill”, I never disagreed. In other way “It is also important for a skillful person to hold his ground and control his mind”. Skill with mind There are people who are like match stick. Too much skill on head and no mind to get burnt That’s the way I looked at it!

I also agree that it is with causes, interpretations & effects but without sequencing

It’s not juggling – It is sequencing, comparing & analyzing

It’s not with words – It’s with causes,interpretations & effects

Hope you agree

I believe in this adage strongly. Goes well with this discussion.

I understand the essence of the stories mentioned. It is upto us what we take from this. We can’t go by the letter & spirit

If anyone has seen “The Last Samurai”, then you would remember the part in the movie when Tom Cruise was dueling with the Master Swordsman and kept loosing until his friend jumped in and whispered in his ear, “No Mind”
Which is quite pertinent to your second story VJKrishna

Skill – In my view, a skill is defined as the repetitive process of performing any activity.Like we say generic or specialised skill.
Now the stories mentioned above carried 2 aspects :

a) Having a balanced approach towards one’s life
b) Power of mind is always important than any skill

Hence, it’s logical to say “Mind with a skill” . . .

I accept life will still go on with out any investions but that’s not living is meant for. “A Ship is fine and safe at seashore but its not build for that purpose” same as life.

P.S:

You are right by saying that you never knew my Zen mind! I myself knew that I never had one! (I mean Zen mind)

I never said ‘MY’ Zen mind helped me. I only said, “Zen mind helped me!” My dearest friend took charge of all my toughest decisions! What did I do? Well I believed him, rather his Zen mind

P.S: I surrender! Animals do have emotions, a government, a country and also an election as well

Oh come on! Not again! You always have the habit of juggling the words Naughty fellow! But you are surprisingly different in your thought process every time!

I am loving it Mind with skill? I do have a mind! But skill @#!$%#@……Hmmmmm not interested

Prithvi – It is skill with the mind and not mind with the skill. I’ll let you think why

Infact the first story is so close to Tamil saying “Idhuvum kadandhu pogum (This will also pass by)”! Time is an excellent healer of many problems! It is good to be happy and excited but it is also important to not get mesmerized by the excitement! It is good to cry and breakdown but it is also important to wipe your face and think what next?

Second story says, In life we might come across problems that are so mean, problems that might sweep you completely off your feet and heart breaking as well! It is good to cry and breakdown. As MKP rightly pointed out emotions are so very important. That’s what differentiates humans from animals, but it is also important to wipe your face and think what next?

Control of mind in toughest situations as demanded in story 2 will be highly challenging if we don’t understand the essence of story 1! These are my interpretations of these stories by experience! With God’s blessings and mercy Zen mind made me successful in my toughest situations! I know I got way to go!

“When you are surrounded feel happy that you can attack from all corners” is also my favourite quote! Not related to this story, just thought of sharing though

Vj,

The little boy looks so cute! I never knew you had the same hair cut as a kid as well

I was trying to understand the story with – “Mind with the skill” …

When you say ” Mind with the skill ” – It gives importance to mind, & then focuses on skill.

Well, just a rational priorisation.

In the first story, they way I saw it, the essence is not that we should keep telling ‘may be’. That’s simplifying so much that you do injustice to the story and yourself. I can tell you that the farmer in the story could be the happiest person in the world and that’s very possible. Just because he kept saying ‘may be’ does not mean he lacked emotions. I’d say he was wise. The story just tells you about what we perceive as good and bad. Link this to the earlier blog I had written about my school experience titled Single cell is one cell . . .

You said something about inventions in this world and that a ‘may be’ attitude would mean that there won’t be any inventions. I’d say ’so be it’. Who said we need to keep inventing things? What’s the big deal about inventions. Of course, inventions have been made and I’m a beneficiary myself of many. So what?

I like the 2nd one & learnt a lesson because it has the content to realize and a good lesson to excel in what you are doing. To me, it concludes one has to work on “How to make our subconcious mind work more & powerful irrespective of changes around”
And, the 1st one you might be correct to some extent (peaceful life) but life without emotions is not exiting. If you keep telling “May be” for everything, everone knows the answer before expressing something.? and how can one laugh, express joy, fun or enjoy life if your mind is stick to idle quote? One has to keep his mind calm and peaceful and not his actions. If we keep stick to the word “may be” there won’t be any inventions in this world. “May be” word might be correct for the people celebrating diamond jubilee.

Yes indeed, it’s a fantastic story! What I also realise is that it is not very difficult to think like that farmer. Never too happy, never too sad, never too angry, never too mad. The farmer of this story will never be ruffled by anything in life. He will always be peaceful.

Great minds think alike…I wrote a post about the farmer story but have not published it yet. I was planning on publishing it next week but now I will wait.

Anyway…isn’t that a great story…there is no good and no bad…there just is!

You have a beautiful blog!

In the farmers story :- Need to take the outcome the way it is and possible add a spice in the form of effort in making it to be relevant for you.
In relation to Archers story – it is completely relevant for anyone who does try for anything, either cooking, making a movie, batting in a cricket match, giving a seminar …. so on anythin you take if you have the fear in mind that ” you may loose”, then defently it balnkets your skill and cannot really get the sucess.
Thats where Skill with Mind comes in to place for Sachin today as he made 62 runs and no skill with mind of Yuvraj thats why he has not made any contribution