ABC of Zentangle..E, E for Ease, Easy

Take it Easy...

A little Zen, and some Tangles..

( To understand, and learn Zentangle®)

Linked to ABC Wednesday and Diva's challenge no. 180

How often have we heard this phrase? When ever under stress or tension, this phrase comes in handy. The difficulty, however, is, 'how to take it easy?' The baggage of the past, the ever shrinking patience, excessive desires, selfish motives, avarice, ego and inability to stomach other's happiness could all be the possible reasons to induce stress or tension. And if the antidote is 'to take it easy', it must be a very deep remedy. Perhaps when you work at the cause level, the effect has to be different.

Hundreds of practitioners of  Zentangle have found it working as a remedy to many of those causes. and practicing Zentangle is EASY! So, take it easy...it will put you at EASE!

So, the tangle for this post..

ABC of Zentangle..E. Tangles used are Eye - wa, Echo, Eyelet & Ribbon, Embellish, and Exis

And now some Zen...

Chuang Tzu, one of the greatest Chinese philosophers wrote this poem some 2300 years ago..

"EASY IS RIGHT. BEGIN RIGHT AND YOU ARE EASY.

CONTINUE EASY, AND YOU ARE RIGHT.

THE RIGHT WAY TO GO EASY IS TO FORGET THE RIGHT WAY

AND FORGET THAT THE GOING IS EASY."

I read this, an reread  several times. I just could not fathom it. Not so easy. But look at how Osho, one of  the current era's best known philosophers explains it. He says about Chuang Tzu,

"His uniqueness is that he talks in absurdities. All his poems and stories are just absurd. And his reason to choose absurdity as his expression is very significant: the mind has to be silenced. With anything rational, it cannot stop; it goes on and on. Anything logical and the mind finds nourishment through it. It is only the absurd that suddenly shocks the mind - it is beyond mind's grasp. 

His stories, his poems and his other statements are so absurd that either people simply left him, thinking that he is mad.... Those who were courageous enough to remain with him found that no other meditation is needed. Just listening to his absurd statements, the mind stops functioning. And that is the meaning of meditation."

I like this very meaningful connection between mind and meditation. In fact he goes on to say that 'meditation is not of the mind'. 'No mind' is what we describe as meditation. 

And my focused purpose here is to suggest that practicing Zentangle creates a 'no mind' like situation, and hence a meditative state with all the benefits it can offer to curb the causes for 'uneasy', stressful and tense situations..  

Let us connect this uneasiness issue with Osho explaining the meaning of the poem-

 EASY IS RIGHT. BEGIN RIGHT AND YOU ARE EASY. That has to be the criterion. If you feel uneasiness, tension, then what you have started cannot be right.

CONTINUE EASY AND YOU ARE RIGHT.

And the last part is something never to be forgotten. THE RIGHT WAY TO GO EASY IS TO FORGET THE RIGHT WAY - because even to remember it is an uneasiness. THE RIGHT WAY TO GO EASY IS TO FORGET THE RIGHT WAY AND FORGET THAT THE GOING IS EASY. What is the need of remembering these things? 

Let me pause here, and conclude this post which has a specific goal of presenting Zentangle, the way I look at it , to both, the novices as well as those who are already hooked on to practicing Zentangle, one post at a time, through one letter at a post!

How ever, if any of you wants to read the whole explanation by Osho of this wonderful poem, I am parking it in another post titled 'Easy is Right' on my another blog.

And coming back to the tangling, here is this edition's video-

ABC of Zentangle.. E - Video:

This is the fifth video of this series demonstrating 19 tangles so far, collectively. You may like to subscribe to this series at Youtube when you watch it . You may also like to introduce it within your circle of influence for more viewership. Thanks.

Please leave behind your thoughts, comments and feedback to make this series 'ABC of Zentangle' more enjoyable and useful to all.

D I L I P