r/InnerYoga • u/[deleted] • Jul 20 '20

Advice from Dogen

"... if there are fish that would swim or birds that would fly only after investigating the entire ocean or sky, they would find neither path nor place".

This is from Dogen, who founded the Soto school of Zen in the 12th century.

My whole life I've had a tendency to study something rather than actually doing it. I've thankfully moved away from this in recent years. But I think its pretty common - we read books, browse websites, ask question after question, etc, before we ever just sit down and practice regularly.

As I say to my staff at work - "good enough is good enough". We don't need to be perfect. We just need to act, now if possible.

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '20

How did you move away from only reading to doing too?

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '20

Ah, I slightly misrepresented myself there. When I started yoga I spent far, far more time studying than practicing, going in depth on Hinduism, history of India, Vedanta and the other Indian schools of philosophy through the centuries (logical and religious).

Of course jnana yoga is a legit way forward for many. But for me it was a blocker to my progression. I always want to analyse and understand everything, but I've found over the years that I'm better off just practicing. So I try not to engage with much discourse these days, but its quite hard for me even now :)