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Begin forwarded message:
Date: January 6, 2013 12:15:
Subject: ] There is a famous Zen story
A Zen master was making a painting, and he had his chief disciple sit by his
side to tell him when the painting was perfect. The disciple was worried and
the master was also worried, because the disciple had never seen the master
do anything imperfect. But that day things started going wrong. The master
tried, and the more he tried, the more it was a mess.
The master tried and tried and the more he tried - he started perspiring. And
the disciple was sitting there and shaking his head again and again
negatively: 'No, this is not perfect.' And more and more mistakes were being
made by the master.
Then the ink was running out so the master said, "You go out and prepare more
ink." While the disciple was outside preparing the ink, the master did his
masterpiece. When he came in he said, "Master, but this is perfect! What
happened?"
The master laughed; he said, "I became aware of one thing: your presence. The
very idea that somebody is there to appreciate or to condemn, to say no or
yes, disturbed my inner tranquillity. Now I will never be disturbed. I have
come to know that I was trying to make it perfect and that was the only
reason for its not being perfect."
