There is a wisdom story about a young, earnest Zen student who asked the Zen Master, “If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take me to find Zen?” The Master thought about this, then replied, “Ten years.” The student then said, “But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast. How long then?” The Master replied, “Well twenty years.”
“But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?” asked the student. “Thirty years,” replied the Master. “But I do not understand,” said the disappointed student. “Each time I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?” The Master replied, ”When you have one eye on the goal, you have only one eye on the path.” This lesson in single mindedness is described by Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu in the following way. He said if an archer is shooting for nothing, he has all his skill. If he shoots for a brass buckle, he is already nervous, if he shoots for a prize of gold, he goes blind or sees two targets. He is out of his mind.
Life coaches say that in order to truly create something valuable and inspiring, you need to concentrate on one thing at a time. It requires simplicity, an art of reducing something to its essence, so that you couldn’t take anything away without making it substantially less. In other words, simplicity is only reached, if you have taken everything away that is not essential. Simplicity creates a more simple life; it also effectively reduces stress. It is about stepping back and gently focusing. And as Seneca says, to be everywhere is to be nowhere.
In his book Zen Habits, Leo Babauta, writes that most of us are good at switching tasks. What this means is that we are not really devoting ourselves to anything. Nothing is sacred if we are constantly switching. We should instead treat everything we do with reverence, wonder and respect. In this way we find appreciation, gratitude, wonder, and love in everything we do. If we act like this every day, our lives would be filled with mindfulness, gratitude and happiness.
To be single-minded, we also need to empty ourselves of other things, save our purpose in life. A Zen story illustrates this principle. Called ‘A Cup of Tea’, the story goes that Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era, once received a professor who wanted to inquire about Zen.
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the cup overflow until he could no longer restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in.” “Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
Being single-minded does not take too much effort once we empty ourselves. That is why, when you are about to do something, pause and notice what you are doing. “Set an intention to be single-mindedly devoted to that one thing and then give it your everything, as if it were your last act,” says Babuata.
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