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lazy he would not even walk; people would have to carry him! People knew that there was no point saying anything to him, you just do whatsoever you do. And he never prevented anybody, or asked, "Where are you taking me?" Even that much was too much -- to ask, "Where are you taking me?" He is a special character.
Kuei Shan was also a man of great understanding, so he asked, "What do you go on doing for twenty-four hours a day?"
An said, "I tend an ox."
He refers to those ten pictures of tending the ox. Just a small statement... and he didn't say anything more.
KUEI SHAN SAID, "HOW DO YOU TEND IT?
AN SAID, "WHENEVER IT GETS INTO THE GRASS, I PULL IT BACK BY THE NOSE."
KUEI SHAN SAID, "YOU ARE REALLY TENDING THE OX!"
And that is the end of the dialogue. But Kuei Shan has given his agreement that this is the way of meditation. When your consciousness starts getting involved in the mind, pull it back. Remain aloof, stand aside. Keep a distance between your self and the mind... and there is no need to do anything else.
Kuei Shan really was satisfied that Lazy An is not lazy at all; he is doing great inner work. Outside of course he looks lazy, but one can see from his aura, his energy field, a certain sweetness surrounding him, a certain fragrance.
He does not do anything; still, wherever he is, people take care of him, on their own accord. They suddenly feel that it is their responsibility to take care of Lazy An; it is as if he is just a small child, so innocent, that anybody will immediately start taking care of him -- and he was an old man.
Nobody ever told him to do something. He was doing what can be called the real doing. He was constantly doing only one thing: not allowing his consciousness to be involved in the grassland of the mind, where thoughts grow like grass, wild grass. He just went on pulling his ox back.
And it does not take much time. Once your consciousness becomes accustomed to not being involved in the mind, you don't have to pull it again and again; to be out of the mind is so peaceful, so joyful, so blissful, that consciousness itself becomes aware that to be in the mind
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