Zen has always been a part of my life since I can spell it in Chinese when I was young. My grandfather was a Buddhist and he had been taught me a lot till he passed away from me. I was influenced and inspired by him at the time we stayed together. He never directly taught me anything or ask me do achieve some but I had absorbed much more than others. I think that is part of his philosophy as Zen. Zen is a highly abstracted subject that people in eastern would hundreds of years to study it and no one can actually say what is this in a sentence. What I learned from grandpa is to appreciate every little thing around you. First, it is every hard to capture little things around. You should train yourself to be a good observer. Sometimes you would have to jump out of those things and to stand out as another neutral party. And to appreciate things you would have to jump out of those things and to stand out as another neutral party. Which is, as you can tell, every hard to achieve.

I really like what Steve Jobs said: “Stay cool, stay foolish.” This phase means to absorb new, you have to be cool with the world and put your self as new to the world. I believe that Jobs had studied Zen. So does Matsuo Basho. He is a master of Zen. The way he observes surrounding was no different from us, but he got the sense to capture and appreciate. His most famous haiku is a good example of Zen.

A new pond

Without the sound of

A frog jumping in

Basically, most of us have the ability to spot a pond and catch the sound of the frog jumping in. But Mr. Matsuo saw something beyond. He found the light of the moon, smelled fresh grass and touched moist air.

When I woke up at morning, all I can see is snow and the whole world turns to white. I went down to a café to buy a coffee. Then I saw different faces. Some faces are annoying and troubling with getting to work. Some faces are celebrating this snow day holiday. I assume none of them, or most of them, cannot truly appreciate the snow today. They are not clammed down enough. Think about snow itself. Think about winter or four seasons are a cycle. You will be more close to Wabi-Sabi.

As snow goes down

The wind is shaking and crossing trees

Birds are coming back.

So every little thing around you in your daily life can be beautiful and delightful. Would you enjoy the time you stuck on the train? Would to say thanks to over-cooked eggs grandma fixed?

Daylight shining

My tea’s cooling by the window

Moon in east.

From now on, I hope you can have the feeling of little things in your life, either bad or good. By this, your little happiness or sadness can b virtue.

Empty house

Dust jump out of table

Sugars are yours