Korean Zen monk Haemin Sunim / Raj Ayyar

But then I realize it isn’t the outside world that is a whirlwind; it’s only my mind.

The world has never complained about how busy it is! There is a famous Buddhist saying that everyone appears as Buddhas in the eyes of a Buddha, and everyone appears as a pig in the eyes of a pig.

It is suggested that the world is experienced according to the state of one’s mind. When your mind is joyful and compassionate, the world is, too.
When your mind is full of negative thoughts, the world is, too. When your mind rests, the world also rests.

–Haemin Sunim: The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down.
So often, Zen Buddhism is stereotyped as an abrasive, rude form of wake-up therapy.

Certainly if one confines Zen to the more shocking, paradoxical koans, that stereotype has some truth to it.
LIke the Vietnamese Thich Nhat Han, the contemporary Korean Zen monk Haemin Sunim soothes us into deep restfulness through his words and the breath-pauses between the words.
I find myself turning the pages of the book when I am feeling stressed-out, anxious, angry or plain tired.

Sunim has a gently nurturing mentor presence that can slow you down, to where you then accomplish all that you need with effortless ease.
–Raj Ayyar