True Progress

"We are life the son of a rich man who wandered away among the poor. We are like a man who, in the midst of water, cries in thirst so imploringly." - Song of Zazen

We want, we want, still we cannot have enough. Somehow, we think we have to make progress. We want progress. But true progress is to realize that we are like the son of a rich man. We already are in the midst of water so there's no need to cry in thirst so imploringly. To realize this is to make true progress.

Eido Shimano Roshi
Excerpt | Points of Departure - Zen Buddhism with a Rinzai View