Go Wash Your Bowl

Participating in the Peaceful Dragon entails more than just going to class.  Each month there is a lesson that is sent out via email.  These lessons are geared to enhance your understanding of the Shaolin studies and principles that we do not have time to go over during our normal class sessions.  So there's homework that is due every month.  Nothing strenuous, but it provides a great insight into the core teachings that you can apply to your everyday life.  Here I thought homework would stop when I got my other degree. Oh well...life goes on...

While reading this month's lesson, I particularly enjoyed a chinese parable that was at the heart of the first lesson:

A young student arrived at the Temple, anxious to embark on the training that would lead him to enlightenment. Upon being introduced to the master, the student proclaimed, “I have just entered the monastery, ready to learn. Please teach me.”

The master asked him, “Have you eaten your breakfast?” 

“Yes,” replied the student, “I just finished.” 

“Then go wash your bowl,” replied the master.

Now at fist glance I thought, "boy this master needs an attitude adjustment."  But after reading the rest of the lesson and working on the homework assignment I began to realize the lesson that the Master was trying to convey.  In every new adventure our imagination tends to paint a picture that we will be elevated immediately to the highest level of the activity and will always have a great time.  We so often forget that, to get the to highest level of anything, there will be a great deal of time devoted to mundane (sometimes boring) tasks that we don't think are particularly fun, but are needed to teach us important skills along the way.  We students need to understand that we must take every task and apply what we have learned in order to get the most out of living.  The experiences in life are here to help us learn and become more intricately woven within the fabric of existence.  Now washing dishes does not seem to be the most enlightening activity, but understanding how a clean and organized environment can help reduce stress and elevate your mood is worth its weight in gold.

I am starting to understand that every activity, task, and relationship, that is set before us is a time to learn and experience what it is to be human.  Maybe these chinese monks where on to something!