The Narrower Path

Posted October 2nd, 2007

People do not want to travel the narrow way. The Spring 2007 issue of Buddhadharma has an article by Don Symanski. At a Zen center, he noticed that the path seemed narrower than it was a few months before. His investigation led to the discovery that the teacher had “made the path narrower so it would be more difficult to walk side-by side and talk.” People want to talk when they are together. The purpose of the center,and the path, was to practice silence, I guess. The teacher engineered a corrective action, rather than putting up signs saying SHHHH! Signs are rather ineffective.

This reminded me of the poem “How Things Go Wrong,” by A. R. Ammons. In the poem, people start taking shortcuts across a new lawn and eventually make a muddy path. People want to take the easier way. One corrective action to this issue is to wait till after people have made a path and then install walkways.

Things do go wrong when the human factor is not addressed. Humans seek to have their needs and desires met. The goals of a Zen center or the installers of a new lawn may be different from those who use the center or walk across the lawn.

The narrower path is more difficult to traverse in life and work. Are you up to taking the more difficult way?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 10:52 am and is filed under Human Factors, Observations.