Zen Travel
Zen Rock Garden in Portland, Oregon: orclimber (flickr)
All to often in life we find ourselves rushing to meet deadlines, forgetting the now to consider the future. It’s almost an inevitability in our society that we live in this way.
But what about travel? Time on the road is what you make of it. If you want to rush around the globe, and never hear a word in between, so be it.
However, for most of us this is not the way, so it’s important to recognize that travel can be a time to consider the things that really matter in life.
A time to learn about yourself, and about others. A time to truly open up to your surroundings without bias or opinion, and absorb.
You may not be able to do it at home, that’s reality; but you can consider it on the road, that’s life.
An autumn night… don’t think your life, didn’t matter.
Basho
To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.
Chuang-tzu
The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
Dogen
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao Tzu
The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.
Yasutani Roshi
The quieter you become, the more you can hear.
Baba Ram Dass
As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.
Shunryu Suzuki
And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.
Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland
I am a part of all that I have met.
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Proverbs from:
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Hello,
I have recently subscribed to your RSS feed and find your posts delightful to read. Despite your relatively young age, your maturity and passion in what you do comes through clearly in your blog.
Keep up the good work.
Haha, I am a bit of a baby I suppose!
Thanks very much for you kind words, Mun Hi, it’s nice to hear them!
Hi Rob, Great site. While your on the topic of Zen Travel you might want to consider watching a documentary called “Baraka”. In it is has a zen monk doing a slow walking meditation through busy rush hour japan and people are just rushing by him oblivious. I think the monks are onto something about how to live and enjoy life =)
Tezza: Thanks very much for the recommendation. I just found the documentary online, for anyone else interested in checking it out.
http://www.tv-links.co.uk/listings/9
(listed under B, for “Baraka”)
I haven’t watched it yet as Ecuadorian internet connections aren’t the fastest… But I will!
Thanks again, sounds very interesting.