ACCEPTANCE
"If we examine the teachings of the Chinese Zen masters, we find that
their Buddhism was by no means an escape from pain. Thus a disciple
came to his master and asked, 'It is terribly hot, and how shall we
escape the heat?' And at once the answer came, 'Let us go down to the
bottom of the furnace.' So the perplexed disciple asked again, 'But in
the furnace how shall we escape the scorching fire?' To which he
received the surprising reply, 'No further pains will harass you.' This
seems to be another way of saying that evil is overcome by acceptance as
distinct from denial. Thus, if you try to avoid death you enter a
living death, for life only lives, only moves, because it is at every
moment dying. The more you run away from your shadow, the faster it
follows, and it does not cease to exist because you turn around and look
the other way."
From the book, The Modern Mystic, A New Collection of The Early Writings
of Allan Watts
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