Process

Everything is a process: life itself, study, work and so on. A process is a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. When the proper process is completed, whatever it is becomes right, or perfect. On the contrary, when the process is not rightly achieved, that thing becomes imperfect. "Perfect", or "imperfect" is not mere human opinion, or judgement, it is another way to evaluate things. There is a Zen story, which illustrates this well. Here is the story:

There once lived a Zen Master named Wolun, who was a student of the great Master Weilang. He lived in isolation in the forest and meditated for years. He thought that he had become enlightened. He then went to see Master Weilang in order to out his Dhamma. In front of Master Weilang, he remained silent and just handed him a peice of paper. Master Weilang read out what was written on the paper: "Wolun has found the technique and method which enables him to stop thoughts, to prevent the mind from having bad thoughts and has become enlightened." When Master Weilang read this, he said to Wolun, "Wolun, you haven’t reached enlightenment yet. If you stop thinking and think that you have found a technique and method, you misunderstand the point of enlightment. If you practice Dhamma to find a technique and method, you will get lost in thoughts, concepts and ideas. You have to practice in order to get insight into the Dhamma to help yourself and others." He added, "Weilang has no technique and method, he just practices Dhamma to experience things as they really are, without having opinion or judgement. This is called ‘process’, it is neither technique nor method."

Wolun seemed not to remain confused, so Master Weilang explained further: "Technique and method tie you down with attachment. It is not the proper way to become awakened from ignorance. To stop thinking is useless. We have thoughts as right information on which to reflect. Life is without thoughts, it is like a rock. You know, when we listen to Dhamma, we need right thoughts to reflect on the Dhamma. Right Thoughts are balanced and exist without attachment. In this way your mind is awakened from ignorance." Wolun understood what Master Weilang had explained and knew then that he had misunderstood the point of Dhamma practice. So he restarted his Dhamma practice again and focused on the process, not on the technique or method.

What do you learn from this story? Do you understand the process of life? The process of living requires neither technique nor method. Therefore, we should not be distracted or deluded by technique and method. We should just learn the process and follow it without expectation. That is the process. Then just leave the rest.