In Zen we do the same things a hundred times and more. Learn to love repetition. A raindrop that falls on a piece of rock may have to fall a thousand times before the rock becomes a little softer and can absorb the rain. The same is true for our minds and hearts. Over and over we hear the same raindrop in the zendo, the same gong, the same bell, the same clappers, the same instruction. We sit down, day after day, in the same way and we stop moving, chasing, fixing, thinking. We no longer run away from our pain or act it out. Instead, we allow ourselves to be with whatever is going on without judgments. Then, whatever has arisen passes, and we have to be with something else. Then that passes and something else appears.

As we do this, we're actually pulling the plug on our suffering, taking our attention back from the outside world, and returning it to ourselves. Zen is the practice of returning you to yourself.

Brenda Shoshanna in Zen Miracles