Zen story: The crooked path
@innertalks (21013)
Australia
February 3, 2023 11:44pm CST
The path that led up to the Xinkao Monastery was crooked, and winding.
A visitor to the monastery asked the head monk there, why didn't he ever have it straightened, to align with the straightness of Zen, that lived within the monastery.
The head monk, Zen master, Dasho Zerboski, smiled, and replied:
"Nothing is really straight until you see it that way, and nothing is ever crooked either, unless you see it that way too."
"We accept things the way they are at times, as being better than any restructuring of what is not needed to be restructured."
"The path is the handshake of the monastery. The peace of the monastery extends to the path leading towards it too."
The visitor said:
"Nothing fits into itself, but itself fits into all else. The zen does not fit into you, you fit into it, by allowing it to mold you into zenness of self."
The master was taken aback at this answer, and looked again at this visitor, at last recognising him as a Zen master too. He was the master of the nearby monastery, a few miles down the road from his own one.
Inspired now, the Zen master went into his room, and penned this senryu poem.
Senryu: Crookedness
Crooked is crooked.
A straight path is always straight.
Straight is crookedness.
Every path is straight in its own way, including a crooked path, which is straight, when we walk on it that way, in a straight way.
And yet, one cannot think crooked, and still walk straight.
Walk with love, and reverence, on either a crooked, or a straight path, and all will be well for you, though.
"The straight line belongs to men, the curved one to God."
Antoni Gaudi, the Spanish architect (1852 to 1926) said this.
Perhaps, he refers to the beauty of a curve, in architecture.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, we find this verse:
Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5-6.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight."
Straight here though refers more to our path being smooth, without too many rocks on it, being obstacles on our path.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
6 people like this
4 responses
@florelway (23095)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
4 Feb 23
If we think we're walking a curvy path can we not do something to straighten it?
2 people like this
@innertalks (21013)
• Australia
5 Feb 23
I think it depends.
If the curvy, crooked path is taking us away from the destination of our journey, we should try to straighten it up, so it will take us to where we need to go, but on the other hand, if the crooked path, with a few curves in it, still takes us to our rightful destination, why would we spend extra time and effort in changing it, when it will take us there anyway, with a bit of extra sightseeing along the way too.
2 people like this
@innertalks (21013)
• Australia
5 Feb 23
@florelway Yes, the old saying goes, that variety is the spice of life, that gives it its extra flavours.
@florelway (23095)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
5 Feb 23
@innertalks That's an enlightening phrase. It can be simply said too as some spices of life.
2 people like this
@RebeccasFarm (86730)
• United States
4 Feb 23
Yes one must accept that things will not always be as we planned..straight as I take the meaning int this story.
2 people like this
@innertalks (21013)
• Australia
5 Feb 23
Yes, life throws us a few curve balls, on our journey, and we have to try to bat up to them as best we can, and still go on from there.
A lot of life is unforeseen, and we often go off the straight path to explore a side path, or two, or we find an extra curve on our path, unexpectedly so, too.
@innertalks (21013)
• Australia
4 Feb 23
That's true, it is strange how the word crooked, can also refer to a criminal too, though.
I also like a meandering path, and I enjoy a quiet walk on a winding track through a bushland.
@innertalks (21013)
• Australia
5 Feb 23
In the end, every path leads to God.
Some take a few twists along the way, but if we have the destination firmly kept in our hearts, we will navigate the curves, and crookedness, and end up at God's front gates too.
Yes, there is something to be said about variety and richness and merit in every path being slightly different from all other paths, as we walk our own path alone, in many ways, and it has been individually created for us by God, for us to take it on our journey of life too.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (21013)
• Australia
5 Feb 23
@Shiva49 If we create unnecessary bad times by our being bad people though, we have the force of karma to fall on us, but otherwise, good and bad times come more to test us, and so are equally valuable to us too, as you said.
@Shiva49 (26196)
• Singapore
5 Feb 23
@innertalks Yes, I feel the supposed good times and bad are equally rewarding in our lives.
Change is the only constant and it depends on how we adapt to the reality we face.
A few challenges looked like it was the end of the road too but soon they were past and even forgotten.
Then at the end of the day, it is back to our source hopefully ending up with a pat on our backs after having coursed (cursed!) through challenges aplenty. We might well say - thanks for this ride, boss!
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