The Moral Vision
Hasten Slowly
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HASTEN SLOWLY
A young man once came to a venerable master and
asked, ‘How long will it take to reach
enlightenment?’ The master said, ‘Ten years.’ The
young man blurted out, ‘So long!’ The master said,
‘No, I was mistaken. It will take you twenty years.’
The young man asked, ‘Why do you keep adding to
it!’ The master answered, ‘Come to think of it, in
your case it will probably be 30 years.’ (Philip
Kapleau,
Readers Digest, 1983)
A goal can be achieved in the course of ten years,
but you want to attain it in just ten days. This
means that you want to reach your destination in
tremendous leaps and bounds. But there is an old
saying: “The more hurry, the less speed.”
A traveller who wants to dash straight as an arrow,
without allowing time for twists and turns, will
collide with many obstacles in his headlong flight.
Far from reaching his destination faster, he will
surely come to grief and fall by the wayside. He
shall then have to retrace his steps to the starting
point, heal his wounds and only then set forth
