Daily practice has many aspects. Being one with what we are doing and dropping thoughts and concepts is central. There is nothing wrong with winning. It’s not what you win, its that you cultivate the excellence, focus and intelligence necessary to win. That you trust the power you cultivate through practice. That is the way of the adept.
In time, as we practice, we become ourselves. It is the simple but difficult act of not being our thoughts but instead identifying with the vast field that contains them. That field gradually frees us from the captivity of our own thoughts and conditioning.
So please win – win your life, your freedom.
Ed Seykota is a brilliant trader and a fine observer of people and performance.
In interview he was asked, “What can a losing trader do to transform himself into a winning trader.”
His wonderful response was: A losing trader can do little to transform himself into a winning trader. A losing trader is not going to want to transform himself.
That’s the kind of thing winning traders do.
photo credit: charles chan *
Daniel… the losing – winning trader example is beautiful
@Sadia
Thank you. I am happy you appreciate it as well and that you took the time to
respond.
“It’s not what you win, its that you cultivate the excellence, focus and intelligence necessary to win. That you trust the power you cultivate through practice.”… so well said!
Thank you for such wonderful post Sensei.
@Ling
Thank you for your kind note. It is great to hear from you.
without wanting to fall into a play on words(!) – what happens Sensei when i/we Win our freedom.. maybe I am a fool, but it seems then that Sitting and cultivation of energy was comparable to flies buzzing round shit ( the amount of attention and hangers on it produced – myself included in that! )
@Tulie
@Tulie
Yes a very legitimate question I think and its about more than words. I think its about how you do it. I think all of us like to grow, learn and develop but it needs to be done in a way that doesn’t create greed anger and ignorance. I am trying to do that. Lost Coin is a group, not a Zen center – for that reason.
The question you ask is right in front of me a lot of the time. I hope to keep it there and do the best I can.
I do not accept ideas like boundless compassion or unexcelled enlightenment.
I like phrases like “find out out who we really are and learning to be kind to and except others. Perhaps if we don’t promote grandiosity the pile you refer to will lose its odor and we can keeps our eyes on practicing the way.
thankyou Sensei; deep bows.
apologies ; my comment yesterday was OTT – to open and be more gentle with myself and this Practice is so hard sometimes. Especially after what we see feel and hear with ‘Zen Practice’ always seems to contradict those qualities of love and acceptance.
Meanwhile over here in the UK we’ve been hit by a wave of Rioting, fear and anger; city’s are burning, people are being beaten or worse. How to be Open amongst all that?, i don’t know, but I try .
i appreciate your Integrity ( which seems to be rare!), and always get some reflection from Lost coin’s blog. Im glad your not a zen center (can i say that?!)
Thanks&Love.
@Tulie
Thank you so much Tulie.
Hi Sensei,
I have been struggling with this question as I transition from skilled employee to unskilled entrepreneur! This clarified or should I say invited me to reframe my own question: in this moment, am I investing in loss or winning. I can’t help feel this is an old song of yours that I feel the melody of again piquing my attention to remember to focus on what feels right. Maybe winning is the art of feeling alive, I feel alive when I am engaged, that is for sure.
As always, Danke.
Gregor
@Gregor
Danke sehr meine freund. If it feels right you are already winning.
Does this mean that whenever I’m really willing to transform I have transformed already? This could sound really simple. However, I outwit myself very often by believing that I’m willing to transform when I’m actually not. Thank you for the post and for the wonderful quote!
@Chris
Thank you. This is a very intelligent response. Yes the operand word is “really” when we really want to look at ourselves and transform.