SHOES
Vincent van Gogh

Have you ever heard an old Zen saying that goes something like: "When you are hungry, eat. When you are tired, rest. When you are cold, put on extra flannel."(see)...Well, tying shoes fits right in there and is a key to the understanding or grasping of things Zen.

Shoe tying is best learned in short (10-minute) sessions in an environment free from distractions so the frustration level will be kept to a minimum.

The two most popular methods of tying shoes are the bunny ears and the one-loop wrap. The bunny ears method is easier to understand although it requires more coordination. In this method you begin with a basic half knot and make two bunny ears or loops. Cross one loop over the other, wrap it around and under the other loop. Complete by pulling both loops tight. Sometimes your own hands get in the way with this method if you do not have sufficient hand dexterity to isolate your index fingers.

A one-loop wrap method requires less refined motor coordination. Hold a lace in each hand. Put each lace in the other hand to make a letter X. It is less confusing if you always use the dominant hand to put one lace under to tie a half-knot. Success depends on which way you wrap the lace before going under and will be most successful if you discover your own which way to go. Start over if you go the wrong way, instead of correcting mid-task, so that you learn the correct method without needing directional cues. You need good bilateral coordination to use both hands to pull the ends of the laces tight. When you have mastered tying a half-knot independently, you are ready to learn the one-wrap method.

Make a loop to hold in non-dominant hand. Put two dots on the shoelace to match up when you make the loop. Otherwise, you will eventually figure out with practice how to make a loop on your own. Hand-over-hand, help lay the lace over the loop, wrap it around and begin to push it under the loop to create the second loop. Now you should change your hold on the first loop and prepare to pull both loops tight. Verbal directions should be kept to a minimum if each shoe tying attempt is set up to end successfully.

How many of you that tie your shoes ever really THINK about it when doing it? Not many, probably. The function somehow becomes an ingrained second nature ablity. So how did you learn? Someone probably showed you, or you watched an older sibiling that learned prior to you, or perhaps it was peer pressure, or trial and error of doing it over and over. The same goes for such things as swimming, riding a bicycle, or typing.

It is that same ingrained second nature ablity we are after here as related to Enlightenment and things Zen. When you get into AWAKENING 101 you will find there are pages and pages of Zen, Buddhist, Sanskrit, and Pali related Enlightenment sources. Some academic, some secular, some religious, some philosophic, some in support of and some against Zen either inside or outside the scriptures, some even written by me. There are over a thousand links, some four deep, but the whole idea is for YOU to grasp as an innate second nature ability things Zen.

You will run into words used in context such as the three S's: Samadhi, Siddhis and Satori, as well as words such as Kensho, and a variety of "number" concepts such as The Four Bodhisattva Vows, The Ten Fetters of Buddhism and Twelve-year Rule...but WHAT are they, what do THEY mean? What does the Twelve-year Rule or The Ten Fetters have to do, if anything, with Enlightenment or your quest or interest in it? Are they some sort of steadfast rules you HAVE to follow or NO Enlightenment or are they more like the Law of Gravity --- a sort of natural order of things?

Well, just by clicking each of the words above in red, you will be taken to pages that explains each of the words and terms in further detail...so that YOU will have a better understanding what they mean. There are tons of links that do the samething on all kinds of stuff. None of it is intended to overload you or swamp you with excess information...only to help set things in order as you go along in order to possess a reservoir of ingrained second-nature fund of back in your consciousness understanding to draw upon...like you do without thinking when you tie your shoe.

In the above few paragraphs I have presented over THREE HUNDRED words explaining how to tie your shoes, three hundred words you don't even use or think about while tying your shoes. The truth is, you probably couldn't even tie your shoes if you concentrated on the words. However, you probably could if you didn't!

TAKE THE FOLLOWING LITTLE TEST:

Starting with a pair of shoestring tie-type shoes, take off both shoes. Call up the following relatively long BUT super interesting link by simply clicking THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES, for example. In a comfortable position with both shoes at close reach, sit in front of the computer and start reading the material, or any page, book, magazine or paper. Part way into your reading, while continuing to read, reach down and put on one shoe, then the other. As you continue to read, tie both shoes. Finish reading. The question comes up, how DID you tie your shoes? It's a Zen thing.

It is often said that when you truly need a teacher, one will appear. This may due to some inexplicable serendipity. It may be due to the fact that the seeker has searched deeply within himself or herself and determined what sort of instruction seems to be required. It could be a spiritual desperation on the part of the seeker, or a successful sales pitch by a teacher (sincere or not). It may be a combination of the previous factors, or some intuitive awareness beyond expression. For whatever the reason, the saying often applies and the results can be found most eloquently in the following:

SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI: THE LAST AMERICAN DARSHAN
RECOUNTING A YOUNG BOY'S NEARLY INSTANT TRANSFORMATION INTO THE ABSOLUTE DURING HIS ONLY DARSHAN WITH THE MAHARSHI

It should be noted that Adam Osborne, who, as a young boy grew up at the Ramana Ashram and the son of one of the foremost Ramana biographers Arthur Osborne, played a prominent role in the Last American Darshan as linked above.

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Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the Zen master's. Where
we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of conceptual overlay onto that experience
and then make an emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself.

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