According to Zen legend, when a visitor asked the Fifteenth Century master Ikkyu to write down a maxim of “the highest wisdom,” Ikkyu wrote one word: “Attention.” The visitor asked, irritably: “Is that all?” This time, Ikkyu wrote two words: “Attention. Attention.”

From John Horgan’s Rational Mysticism: Spirituality Meets Science in the Search for Enlightenment, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003, p. 226.

Addendum I (November 29, 2016)

Wonderful, this. “Attention,” I keep repeating to myself whenever I bungle something, which I do often enough. And it applies all the time, as well as everywhere. “Attention, attention,” I keep repeating to myself day after day. Slowly but surely, I bungle things ever less often, as well as ever less precipitously. The mother of all wisdoms, master Ikkyu be praised.

Addendum II (October 10, 2021)

At the risk of repeating myself way too often, attention is best learned from animals in our wake (Addendum I of February 26, 1994, to “On Masters and Disciples,” January 1, 1994). The animal in us knows all there is to know about this world of ours (“The Animal in Us,” November 4, 1993). The only impediment is domestication, which also applies to humans (“Past Domestication,” January 3, 2012; and “Dedomestication,” October 1, 2014). Anyhow, our pets are our best teachers, and especially when we are close to snuffing it (“Gentle Teachers,” January 20, 2021; and “Our Best Teacher,” May 25, 2021). But master Ikkyu is always there to remind us of the oldest trick in the animal world: “Attention.” Or, for those who are dimwitted, here is the highest wisdom in no more than two words: “Attention. Attention.”