A rich history has come down to us by way of records kept in ancient monasteries. Monks of the Rinzai Zen tradition were there expressly to pursue the change of being described as "Sudden Enlightenment". The social disciplines and meditative practices of these institutions were designed to eliminate any impediment to the achievement of this end, and even in these carefully articulated circumstances many acolytes failed to cross over. So how in the world is somebody in secular circumstances to achieve this Cosmic change of being?
The "Centipede's Dilemma" is an Aesop-like tale concerning the centipede's psychological collapse when confronted with the question of the facility of his many legs and the circumambulations necessary to his daily life. Well, the narrative of "The Ten Bulls" which we encounter in Buddhist lore directly addresses the struggle and successful resolution of the psychological upheaval inevitable when we begin to realize how much of what we have been in life could be described as: Cosmic Awareness enslaved by an animal.
The silence of mind we cultivate in meditation makes possible that Awareness might come to the fore. The animal is the ride and beatings will not improve its quality of life. What is necessary is for Awareness to infuse and befriend the natural inclinations of the animal. The privations and austerities of monastic life are most certainly an accelerant to the self discovery necessary to the awakening of Awareness, but these bracing privations and austerities are not possible, or even advisable, in the press of secular existence.
Good will and good humor and meditation are advised.
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