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Hat Zen

Chuck Bobuck

Practically Family
Messages
715
Location
Rolling Prairie
The true Hat-Zen master simply wears a hat without posting thoughts of the hat on a forum. He doesn't think of the hat as he walks along the path. He doesn't think about the crease, the height, the taper, or the curl of the brim. He is at one with the hat. He is at peace with the hat. His hat is most likely a fedora. Probably a vintage Dobbs or Stetson. 97% of Hat-Zen masters prefer fedoras according to Hat-Zen Magazine. :p
 

Mario

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,664
Location
Little Istanbul, Berlin, Germany
97% of Hat-Zen masters prefer fedoras according to Hat-Zen Magazine, which no Hat-Zen master ever reads, because the true Hat-Zen master simply wears a hat without posting thoughts of the hat on a forum... (see post #2) :D
 

ScionPI2005

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,335
Location
Seattle, Washington
The hat of a true Hat-Zen Master shall never make physical contact with the head of the Hat-Zen Master. The Hat-Zen Master has trained himself or herself to emit the same energy vibe as the hat, ensuring that the hat levitates above the Zen-Master's head.
 

Dreispitz

One Too Many
Messages
1,164
The Sound of One Hat

The master of Toyo Hat temple was Silent Brim. He had a little protege named Self Edge who was only twelve years old. Self Edge saw the older disciples visit the master's room each morning and evening to receive instruction in sanzen or personal guidance in which they were given koans to stop mind-wandering. Self Edge wished to do sazen also. "Wait a while," said Silent Brim. "You are too young."
But the child insisted, so the teacher finally consented.
In the evening little Self Edge went at the proper time to the threshold of Silent Brim's sazen room. He struck the gong to announce his presence, bowed respectfully three times outside the door, and went to sit before the master in respectful silence.
"You can hear the sound of two hats when they clap together," said Silent Brim. "Now show me the sound of one hat."
Self Edge bowed and went to his room to consider this problem. From his window he could hear the music of the geishas. "Ah, I have it!" he proclaimed.
The next evening, when his teacher asked him to illustrate the sound of one hat, Self Edge began to play the music of the geishas.
"No, no," said Silent Brim. "That will never do. That is not the sound of one hat. You've not got it at all."
Thinking that such music might interrupt, Self Edge moved his abode to a quiet place. He meditated again. "What can the sound of one hat be?" He happened to hear some water dripping. "I have it," imagined Self Edge.
When he next appeared before his teacher, Self Edge imitated dripping water.
"What is that?" asked Silent Brim. "That is the sound of dripping water, but not the sound of one hat. Try again."
In vain Self Edge meditated to hear the sound of one hat. He heard the sighing of the wind. But the sound was rejected.
He heard the cry of an owl. This also was refused.
The sound of one hat was not the locusts.
For more than ten times Self Edge visited Silent Brim with different sounds. All were wrong. For almost a year he pondered what the sound of one hat might be.
At last little Self Edge entered true meditation and transcended all sounds. "I could collect no more," he explained later, "so I reached the soundless sound."
Self Edge had realized the sound of one hat. shhhhhhhh
 

Torpedo

One Too Many
Messages
1,332
Location
Barcelona (Spain)
Don't get your felt set into one crease, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, let it be like water. Empty your mind, let the felt be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a teardrop, it becomes the teardrop; You put water into a diamond crown, it becomes the diamond crown; You put it in a centerdent, it becomes the centerdent. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my felt.

bruce_lee1.jpg
 

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