"Don't spare yourself" is the key motivating factor in some Zen monasteries. By working hard and not wasting a moment they are training their subconscious to become infected with enthusiasm. If they keep at this until it becomes a habit, soon the rest of their being obeys.Armies do this too. In boot camps new recruits wake up at the crack of dawn, make the bed neatly in 20 seconds, take a shower in exactly 2 minutes and so on. Initially, they only act like they are self disciplined to avoid punishment, but soon acting sharp and smart becomes a life long habit even without the drill sergeant.

You become what you repeatedly do

<div itemprop="upvoteCount" data-value="4">
 4
 </div>Recently, I watched a documentary about zen philosophy and what it is like to be zen monk on a daily basis and I noticed that in <a href="http://youtu.be/CfR_ZkRQz3Q?t=3m7s" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">the documentary</a> the zen monks always looked like they were in a hurry. For example, in the documentary we see the monks "rushing" to sleep. Another instance in the documentary is when one monk is waking up the other monks, we see that he is running. The question is: is there a reason behind the speed? Thanks<div itemprop="upvoteCount" data-value="3">
 3
 </div>Another approach to Zen by Thich Nhat Hanh is that everything is done with a connection to the breath and things slow down. You may not complete as much but increase the awareness of each moment.Not sure why other Zen practitioners hurry. The tea ceremony is done precisely. If you practice it over and over again perhaps there is no hesitaion and it appears faster. When the personal self is erased there is only pure action.. Here is a Zen story that advocates less hurry.
<a href="http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/Zen_Humor.html" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/Zen_Humor.html</a><BLOCKQUOTE>Other sayings from Linji or attributed to him: “What is the frantic
 hurry to deck yourselves in a lion's skin when all the while you are
 yapping like wild foxes? A real man has no need to give himself the
 airs of a real man!”</BLOCKQUOTE>Now I just discovered something about the documentary <BLOCKQUOTE>This Documentary is all about rinzai zen and Zen in common. It will
 give you a bit of insight how Zen is lived in a strict monastery order
 and how it influenced so many things.</BLOCKQUOTE>Soto is the form of Shunryu Suzuki and even Dogen and one I am more familiar with. This tends to be different in application than Rinzai Zen in a very strict monastery. I only watched first 7 minutes where walking is quite ordinary. Perhaps someone who can watch the 2 hour documentary will share further insights.<div dir="ltr">
 3,00311</div><div>11 silver badges</div><div>18</div><div>18 bronze badges</div><div itemprop="upvoteCount" data-value="3">
 3
 </div>"Don't spare yourself" seems to be the key motivating factor in this Zen monastery. By working hard and not wasting a moment even in lying down they are training their subconscious to become infected with the enthusiasm. If they keep at this until it becomes a habit, soon the rest of their being obeys. Until then they need the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keisaku" rel="nofollow noreferrer" dir="ltr">keisaku</a> (stick) wielding <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jikijitsu" rel="nofollow noreferrer" dir="ltr">Jikijitsu</a>.<img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/uGBE4.jpg" alt="Keisaku" width="145" height="145">Theravada retreats can set a gruelling pace too - the make you wake up at dawn and meditate all day on one meal a day. The teacher can get quite worked up if a student misses a sitting. Of course, some Zendos like here can take it to the extreme.This harsh self denial isn't exclusively Zen or Buddhist, here's Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, the Hindu mystic warning against mollycoddling the self in times of illness (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzvT0vy5cjE" rel="nofollow noreferrer" dir="ltr">Youtube video</a>).Armies do this too; in boot camps new recruits wake up at the crack of dawn, and make the bed neatly in precise moves, and completed in 20 seconds. Next, a morning shower in exactly 2 minutes and so on. Initially they of course only act like they are self disciplined to avoid punishment, but soon acting sharp and smart becomes a life long habit even without the drill sergeant.<a href="http://plumvillage.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer" dir="ltr">Thich Nhat Hanh</a>, the Vietnamese Zen master disagrees with the use of the keisaku and likes to joke that no one here beats people with a stick unlike in other Zen monasteries. Motivation and encouragement is given through love to oneself and one's inner subconscious. As the other answerer noted, Plum Village has an air of deliberate compassion. There's no hurry, but there's no laziness either. In my opinion, we could all use more places like Plum Village, but it is my experience that PV's gentle way is the exception not the rule. I haven't practiced with Ajahn Brahm, but from his talks he hints that he is very gentle with his students, unlike other Theravada retreats.<div itemprop="upvoteCount" data-value="3">
 3
 </div>Edit - running helps purge the lactic acid out of legs that are almost always aching after long bouts of meditation. Not sure how I forgot to mention that fairly obvious point in my original answer! Everything that goes on at a Zen monastery is carefully considered. From the time you wake up to the moment your eyes close for the night, everything is done to maximize the potential for awakening. With that said, it is extremely difficult to pick out how one aspect of Zen training contributes to awakening. The entire training has to be considered in gestalt. There are a couple of things at play here. The main one to consider is that one of the most salient difficulties that practitioners face at sesshin is exhaustion. In our sangha, we wake up at 3:30AM. To quote Chris Griffin - "3:30AM?? I didn't even know there was a 3:30AM! What else haven't you told me?!" That's about four to five hours of sleep - tops. Unless you've actually tried getting up that early to recite sutras for an hour and then sat for two hours before getting a break, you really can't wrap your head around how tiring that is. By 6:00AM, you're done - despite the fact that you have a whole day of sitting ahead of you. Those periods of intense, fast activity really help jar you out of sleepiness. They are like a smack of the keisaku and help you from falling back into your own head.Zen (and I'm speaking of Rinzai Zen here...which is what I practice) doesn't really put a whole lot of weight behind mindfulness training. All that running and scrubbing and what not are done for a very different purpose than what you might find at a Plum Village or Theravada retreat. I think it's important to view this sort of training for what it is and not try to view it through the lens of other Buddhist practices.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

mindfulness

Mindfulness

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

Recently, I watched a documentary about zen philosophy and what it is like to be zen monk on a daily basis and I noticed that in <a href="http://youtu.be/CfR_ZkRQz3Q?t=3m7s">the documentary </a>the zen monks always looked like they were in a hurry. For example, in the documentary we see the monks "rushing" to sleep. Another instance in the documentary is when one monk is waking up the other monks, we see that he is running.

The question is: is there a reason behind the speed?

Another approach to Zen by Thich Nhat Hanh is that everything is done with a connection to the breath and things slow down. You may not complete as much but increase the awareness of each moment.

Not sure why other Zen practitioners hurry. The tea ceremony is done precisely. If you practice it over and over again perhaps there is no hesitaion and it appears faster. When the personal self is erased there is only pure action..

Here is a Zen story that advocates less hurry. <a href="http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/Zen_Humor.html">http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/Zen_Humor.html </a>

Other sayings from Linji or attributed to him: “What is the frantic hurry to deck yourselves in a lion's skin when all the while you are yapping like wild foxes? A real man has no need to give himself the airs of a real man!”

Now I just discovered something about the documentary

This Documentary is all about rinzai zen and Zen in common. It will give you a bit of insight how Zen is lived in a strict monastery order and how it influenced so many things.

Soto is the form of Shunryu Suzuki and even Dogen and one I am more familiar with. This tends to be different in application than Rinzai Zen in a very strict monastery. I only watched first 7 minutes where walking is quite ordinary. Perhaps someone who can watch the 2 hour documentary will share further insights.

"Don't spare yourself" seems to be the key motivating factor in this Zen monastery. By working hard and not wasting a moment even in lying down they are training their subconscious to become infected with the enthusiasm. If they keep at this until it becomes a habit, soon the rest of their being obeys. Until then they need the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keisaku">keisaku </a>(stick) wielding <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jikijitsu">Jikijitsu </a>.

Theravada retreats can set a gruelling pace too - the make you wake up at dawn and meditate all day on one meal a day. The teacher can get quite worked up if a student misses a sitting. Of course, some Zendos like here can take it to the extreme.

This harsh self denial isn't exclusively Zen or Buddhist, here's Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, the Hindu mystic warning against mollycoddling the self in times of illness (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzvT0vy5cjE">Youtube video </a>).

Armies do this too; in boot camps new recruits wake up at the crack of dawn, and make the bed neatly in precise moves, and completed in 20 seconds. Next, a morning shower in exactly 2 minutes and so on. Initially they of course only act like they are self disciplined to avoid punishment, but soon acting sharp and smart becomes a life long habit even without the drill sergeant.

<a href="http://plumvillage.org/">Thich Nhat Hanh </a>, the Vietnamese Zen master disagrees with the use of the keisaku and likes to joke that no one here beats people with a stick unlike in other Zen monasteries. Motivation and encouragement is given through love to oneself and one's inner subconscious. As the other answerer noted, Plum Village has an air of deliberate compassion. There's no hurry, but there's no laziness either. In my opinion, we could all use more places like Plum Village, but it is my experience that PV's gentle way is the exception not the rule. I haven't practiced with Ajahn Brahm, but from his talks he hints that he is very gentle with his students, unlike other Theravada retreats.

Edit - running helps purge the lactic acid out of legs that are almost always aching after long bouts of meditation. Not sure how I forgot to mention that fairly obvious point in my original answer!

Everything that goes on at a Zen monastery is carefully considered. From the time you wake up to the moment your eyes close for the night, everything is done to maximize the potential for awakening. With that said, it is extremely difficult to pick out how one aspect of Zen training contributes to awakening. The entire training has to be considered in gestalt.

There are a couple of things at play here. The main one to consider is that one of the most salient difficulties that practitioners face at sesshin is exhaustion. In our sangha, we wake up at 3:30AM. To quote Chris Griffin - "3:30AM?? I didn't even know there was a 3:30AM! What else haven't you told me?!" That's about four to five hours of sleep - tops. Unless you've actually tried getting up that early to recite sutras for an hour and then sat for two hours before getting a break, you really can't wrap your head around how tiring that is. By 6:00AM, you're done - despite the fact that you have a whole day of sitting ahead of you. Those periods of intense, fast activity really help jar you out of sleepiness. They are like a smack of the keisaku and help you from falling back into your own head.

Zen (and I'm speaking of Rinzai Zen here...which is what I practice) doesn't really put a whole lot of weight behind mindfulness training. All that running and scrubbing and what not are done for a very different purpose than what you might find at a Plum Village or Theravada retreat. I think it's important to view this sort of training for what it is and not try to view it through the lens of other Buddhist practices.

Why do Zen monks complete tasks quickly?

You become what you repeatedly do

CURATED BY

Related collections

More like this