Sorry this might also be a litlle ot .. But, I mean that you dont have to wait till somebody calls you a master of something, to master listening and responding with wisdom from your own heart. If you have the dhamma inside, and use your heart and your mind to investigate what the other actually needs, then its only a matter of patience and waiting for the perfect moment to serve the special wisdom you'we prepared.Dan74 wrote:Sorry this is off-topic, but what you say about Zen is a misunderstanding.duckfiasco wrote: You know, how those Zen masters say a snappy one-liner and voila, instant insight for the listener
But maybe patience and a loving attitude are what's needed.
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The ancient texts that relate these dialogue took place between a master and a monk who was ready for the insight. One who had been practicing hard for many years usually and the exchanges focused on the monk's sticking point.
The metaphor that is sometimes used to describe it is a chick trying to peck its way out of the egg and the mother hen helping out on the other side. One has to be quite close to freedom for such efforts to work. And of course the mother hen has to know exactly where the chick is stuck.
Have had many nice "zen-moments" with noumerous "students", and I'm far from any degree of master of this or that, only an open heart and some patience ..
remember a moment of "zen" that happened to me, about 30 years ago. And the individual that served as my master of the moment never knew what his few words of wisdom resulted in, and that it actually has saved my life. There are buddhas all over the place, in my opinion
metta