Bob Schwartz

The way through the world
Is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.
Wallace Stevens, Reply to Papini

As for people who set out to cultivate spiritual practice with aversion to the objects and desires of the senses, even if their minds and thoughts are empty and still and their contemplative visualization is perfectly clear, still when they leave quietude and get into active situations, they are like fish out of water, like monkeys out of the trees.
Man-an, An Elementary Talk on Zen

Even the most engaged of those on a spiritual journey may have thought: What if I could spend time alone, in a hermitage, a place away and apart, where secluded I could better pursue that path? Others have, so why not me?

I read an exquisite brief piece attributed to Zen master Man-an (1591-1654), An Elementary Talk on Zen, found in Minding Mind.

For those who think that the quiet and inactive life is the most conducive to realization, Man-an comments:

Concentration of right mindfulness should be cultivated most especially in the midst of activity. You need not necessarily prefer stillness….

There is a tendency to think that Zen practice will be quicker under conditions of stillness and quiet and that activity is distracting, but the power attained by cultivation in stillness is uncertain when you deal with active situations; it has a cowardly and weakly
function….

If you want to quickly attain mastery of all truths and be independent in all events, there is nothing better than concentration in activity. That is why it is said that students of mysticism working on the Way should sit in the midst of the material world….

As for people who set out to cultivate spiritual practice with aversion to the objects and desires of the senses, even if their minds and thoughts are empty and still and their contemplative visualization is perfectly clear, still when they leave quietude and get into active situations, they are like fish out of water, like monkeys out of the trees.