Comments on: more than this

By: Await Your Reply 5: parceling out your life — Contrary Blog

Await Your Reply 5: parceling out your life — Contrary Blog — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:38:12 +0000

[…] that surely there is more than this […]

By: await your reply 5: parceling out your life | catching days

await your reply 5: parceling out your life | catching days — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:32:20 +0000

[…] that surely there is more than this […]

By: cyberchuck

cyberchuck — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:04:02 +0000

Well, I’m glad you found the Zen quote you really wanted, but sorry, I was more intrigued by the first one. HOWEVER: I’m not much of a Zen guy, so that opinion ain’t really worth much.

The more I thought about it, the stranger I thought the first quote was. What if you swapped in some different terms, like “Before Harvard MBA, wait tables, clean toilets; after Harvard MBA, wait tables, clean toilets?” That would seem to cast some doubt on the value of your graduate degree. My take was the same for enlightenment/wood/water. But I’m not an MBA, or enlightened, and I do chop wood and carry water. And I got a Zen book from the library, so we’ll see where that goes…

By: cynthia

cynthia — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:37:08 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Chuck. When I was writing the post, I was trying to remember the quote from a book I had read years ago about finding the spiritual in everyday actions. So I googled it. Because you commented on it, I did a little more research. I actually had the wrong “wood/water” quote. I have now updated the post and added a new link. Many thanks!

By: Chuck

Chuck — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:52:11 +0000

I’m totally intrigued by the Zen “wood/water” quote.

I Googled it, trying to track down the the original context to get a better idea of what the author meant. Result: Many people quote it, hardly anybody agrees about what it means, and nowhere did I find the context.

(By the way, congrats: You come up third in a Google search for the quote. A New York Times blog was #4.)

The search continues…