Koan Kreativity XII
Using Ancient Wisdom to Inspire Modern Creativity
Presented as either a riddle or tale, the koan is instrumental to the Zen student’s path to enlightenment; by opening and freeing the mind from both outer and inner restrictions, the “empty mind” of the Zen student is more open to insight and realization that could be achieved in no other way.
As artists and creative people we, too, need the benefit of an “empty mind.” Our own creative insights and realizations become more tangible and workable when we clear away the clutter of fear, apathy, negativity, and all other potentially destructive restrictions that we may have learned in our lives.
__________
Fire-Poker Zen
Hakuin used to tell his pupils about an old woman who had a tea shop, praising her understanding of Zen. The pupils refused to believe what he told them and would go to the tea shop to find out for themselves.
Whenever the woman saw them coming she could tell at once whether they had come for tea or to look into her grasp of Zen. In the former case, she would serve them graciously. In the latter, she would beckon to the pupils to come behind the screen. The instant they obeyed, she would strike them with a fire-poker.
Nine out of ten of them could not escape her beating.
* * *
Zen resides in tea and in the pupil’s motivations.
Creativity resides in the work and in the artist’s motivations.
What motivates us to become artists and live out our creative dreams?
Steven Pressfield, in his book Do the Work, presents us with a test to find out exactly what’s behind our creative motivations (check only one):
____ 1. For the babes (or dudes)
____ 2. The money
____ 3. For fame
____ 4. Because I deserve it
____ 5. For power
____ 6. To prove my old man (or ex-spouse, mother, teacher, coach) wrong
____ 7. To serve my vision of how life/humankind ought to be
____ 8. For fun or beauty
____ 9. Because I have no choice
Pressfield says that if we check 8 or 9, we “get to stay on the island.” If we check any of the first seven, we can stay on the island as well but we must immediately check ourselves “into the Attitude Adjustment Chamber.”
