Asking for alms
Part of the training of a Zen Buddhist monk is a practice known as takuhatsu - the begging pilgrimage. As well as helping the monasteries, which depend for their existence on donations, and teaching the student humility, this practice has another purpose too, that of purifying the town in which the monk lives.
This is because, according to Zen philosophy, the giver, the beggar and the alms money itself all form part of an important chain of equilibrium.
The person doing the begging does so because he is needy, but the person doing the giving also does so out of need.
The alms money serves as a link between these two needs, and the atmosphere in the town improves, since everyone is able to act in a way in which he or she needed to act.
The four forces
Father Alan Jones says that in order to build our soul we need the Four Invisible Forces: love, death, power and time.
We must love because we are loved by God. We must have an awareness of death in order to understand life fully.
We must struggle in order to grow, but without becoming entrapped by the power that is gained through that struggle, because we know that power is worthless.
Finally, we must accept that our soul, although eternal, is at this moment caught in the web of time, with all its opportunities and limitations. We must therefore behave as if time existed and do everything we can to value each second.
These Four Forces cannot be treated as problems to be solved because they are beyond our control. We must accept them and let them teach us what we need to learn
