Short story: The Zen master knew when to call it a day, and not force things against his own soul's wishes for him, and his life

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The old Zen master had been struggling with the decision of whether he should keep being the head monk at his monastery, as he was getting old now, and to his annoyance, his memory was not what it was anymore. He knew that this was a part of his brain, and mind, and in no way took anything away from his enlightened state. His soul self was still working as it should, it was only getting the message through his old mind, and brain, that now caused him to struggle. He asked himself: "How can I make a decision here that will work best?" He answered himself: "I need to reach past the decision, and feel the possible answers, and so feel which is best to follow." And so, he resigned as the master, but stayed in the monastery as a mentoring role for the new master, that he now appointed. He remembered the saying of another spiritual master: “The mind creates the abyss, and the heart crosses it.” Nisargadatta Maharaj The old Zen master's mind was now creating deep problems for him, especially with him handling day to day stuff in the monastery, but his heart was still in the right spot, and so he could bridge the mind, and still provide some heartfelt wisdomed advice to the new Zen master too. The old Zen master called time on himself, as he knew forcing things was never the way of the heart, but more a device of the mind, usually centred around a need for self gratification, greed, and inflated ego. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com Time catches us all in the end.