Zen short story: The master rained on his student, to grow him in his heart

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There was a Zen monk, who was told by his Zen master to go into the nearby forest, and meditate by himself with his back resting against the trunk of a large tree. The student monk did this, and he sat down on the grass under a tree, and leaned his back against the tree, and then he closed his eyes, and began to meditate. After a few minutes, though, he felt something dripping onto his head. He felt angry at this disturbance to his meditation. He did not open his eyes though, at first, but after the dripping had gone on for a while, he did open his eyes, and he looked up into the tree. There sat his Zen master, with a jug of water, slowly pouring its contents onto the head of his student. The Zen master said: "Do not let me disturb your meditation, because water falling onto your head merely shows you that your meditation is still in your head, and not in your heart." The student replied, "When water is poured on anyone's head, they will return to their head to see what is causing it as a matter of self-preservation." "Fine, fine," said his master. "You will not become enlightened though, until you realise that nothing can disturb the heart, living from itself, and not being disturbed by its connection to its owner's mind." "Anxiety disappears from a mind that remains opened to its heart." "We must change ourselves from the innerness of our hearts, not from the outerness of the thoughts in our minds." "Reaching past yourself into love requires two things of you, to quieten your mind, which wants to love from itself, which is ego-based love, and then putting the mind aside, and loving from your heart, so mind aside, heart astride." Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com When life rains upon us, maybe it is really the master teaching us something.