Henry David Thoreau Once wrote, "As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."
From the Zen experience, his words though beautiful, are still somewhat off. We do not fight with thoughts. We don't try to dominate thoughts, trying to break them like a wild horse. We let them be what they are, not allowing them to be intrusive to our experience by consciously and intentionally accepting responsibility for where we're directing our attention, in real-timelessness.
Dominating thoughts which come and go by themselves are not a part of the equation to Zen practice and training. Why? What would make one bother to ride what's NOT really HERE? That said based on my direct experience, I could put it this way...
Just as a single footstep does not create a path on the ground, a single moment of intentional attention does not create mindfulness. To create a lasting physical path, we must walk on the same ground and in the same direction over and over again. In a similar Way, to establish deep mindfulness and presence, we intentionally work consistently to train our attention, repeatedly focusing our attention on present-time experience, fully embodying here and now, which helps us to meet the next, and the next, and the next here and now as Mindful and Loving Presence.
一We Are the Practice Itself
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