Practice

A rich man, fond of felines, asked a famous Zen ink painter to draw him a cat.  The master agreed and asked the man to come back in three months.  When the man returned, he was put off, again and again, until a year had passed.  Finally, at the man’s request, the master drew out a brush, and, with grace and ease, in a single fluid motion, drew a picture of a cat – the most marvelous image the man had ever seen.  He was astonished; then he grew angry.  ”That drawing took you only thirty seconds! Why did you make me wait a year?” he demanded.  Without a word, the master opened up a cabinet, and out fell thousands of drawings – of cats.

- From Dan Millman, No Ordinary Moments