One story had the author playing tennis with his mentor. He was winning points with trick shots, drop shots, and not volleying back and forth the way most casual tennis players do.
The zen master told him to "lengthen his game". IOW win by hitting BETTER shots, not by undercutting the other guy. Meaning you can win a competition by outperforming the other by skill and effort, or you can undercut your opponent and make him/her lose - like that figure skater who had her competitor bashed in the shins.
OK, Readers! Are there Torah Sources that teach this same lesson? That winning is about improving oneself and not about undermining the other?
Shana Tova
RRW
1 comment:
"Someone who wants to be greater than others should not dig a pit for his friend, rather he should build a hill for himself."
- R' Yisrael Salanter, as quoted in Tenu'as haMussar vol I, pg 281
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