Zen and Ground Hog Day

Spoiler Alert

Being as today is Ground Hog Day, I thought this might be fun; but I am giving away a secret so back off if you are planning a visit to a Zen Monastery...

Years ago a friend of mine wanted to straighten out his life and checked himself into a very famous Zen Monastery here in the U.S.
There were gardening and cleaning tasks assigned, but the entire rest of the day was in seated meditation.
He said they would sit there in a large group and count each breath to ten, and then start over again. He got so frustrated he started counting every breath, into the thousands for each meditation session.
He felt he was going crazy and went to the Abbot and requested a meeting.
Am I going crazy?
No, it's supposed to happen and it will pass...
So back to the routine.

After a couple of weeks the Abbot made an announcement to the group; tonight there would be a movie shown to the group as a treat for all their hard work.
The group gathered and the Abbot put the movie on; it was Bill Murray's "Ground Hog Day".
Everybody loved it and it was a refreshing break from the weeks of silence and introspection.

A week later the Abbot announced that the group was doing so well that there would be another movie. Of course, everyone was in thrilled silence, and gathered in the viewing room.

The Abbot put on the movie:

It was "Ground Hog Day".

Ah, Zen...