The following parable in Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind author Shunryu Suzuki says can be found in the Samyuktagama Sutra. Suzuki writes:

In our scriptures, it is said that there are four kinds of horses: excellent ones, good ones, poor ones, and bad ones.

The best horse will run slow and fast, right and left, at the driver’s will, before it sees the shadow of the whip; the second best will run as well as the first one does, just before the whip reaches its skin; the third one will run when it feels pain on its body; the fourth will run after the pain penetrates to the marrow of its bones. You can imagine how difficult it is for the fourth one to learn how to run!

When we hear this story, almost all of us want to be the best horse. If it is impossible to be the best one, we want to be the second best. This is, I think, the usual understanding of this story and of Zen. You may think that when you sit in zazen you will find out whether you are one of the best horses or one of the worst ones.

Here, however, there is a misunderstanding of Zen. If you think the aim of Zen practice is to train you to become one of the best horses, you will have a big problem. This is not the right understanding.

If you practice Zen in the right way it does not matter whether you are the best horse or the worst one. When you consider the mercy of Buddha, how do you think Buddha will feel about the four kinds of horses? He will have more sympathy for the worst one than for the best one.