There was a man who was visiting New York City. He was an older man and was looking forward to attending a concert at Carnegie Hall. If you google “Carnegie Hall” you will find that

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets.

But he could not do this since his iPhone was having trouble getting a signal and was low on battery. Not knowing this, he headed out from his hotel to attend the event. But as he walked down the street he realized that in his excitement that he really didn’t know where he was going. New York City is big and crowded, especially so without an iPhone for support. He didn’t even know the address and he couldn’t check to see if it was on his ticket because it was waiting for him at Will Call.

He realized that he needed to stop and ask for directions, but who to ask? He then noticed a younger woman in a formal, long black dress carrying an expensive looking violin case. He wondered, as a musician, if she might be able to give him directions to Carnegie Hall. He was hoping to get something on paper, an address, cross streets, a map, a list of directions. He wanted text that would give him the steps necessary to make progress from where he was to where he needed to go.

So, as she was waiting at the street corner for the light to change, he approached her and asked very politely, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” She was busy and in a hurry. She was living in New York time. She took pity on this out-of-towner and replied, “There is only one way to get to Carnegie Hall and that is practice, practice, practice.” And then she was suddenly off, on her way.

The man was confused at first but then realized they were talking about two different Carnegie Halls. He was focused on attendance while she was focused on performance. This was because he was a tourist and she was the first chair violinist at Carnegie Hall.

This story is one of my favorite jokes but it is also a metaphor for how we often approach Buddhism. Many of us focus only on the destination of insight and awakening. We yearn for teachings and texts, a new set of beliefs. But these teachings, texts and beliefs need to be performed with our bodies not merely comprehended by our minds. We must embrace them. They must be self-actualized.

This is a shift from paper to practice. They are both equally important and are mutually reinforcing but the latter is usually given much less attention in Western presentations of Buddhism. This can be easily remedied by placing a greater emphasis on the need to practice, practice, practice in order to not reach a final destination but to experience a new level of awareness within our everyday lives.

This topic will be explored in more detail along the EVERYDAY BUDDHIST Course Pathway with our upcoming offering titled The “How” and “Why” of Buddhism: Buddhist Practice in Six Simple Steps. For this and our entire course offering you can subscribe for $10/month or save $25 with an annual subscription of just $95/year for unlimited access to all new courses and content.