Story - A Life Lesson from Frogs

There once was a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a running competition. The
goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants... The race began...

Honestly: No one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. You heard statements such as:

"Oh, WAY too difficult!!" "They will NEVER make it to the top" or:
"Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"

The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one... Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher.

The crowd continued to yell, "It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up... But ONE continued higher and higher and higher... This one wouldn't give up!

At the end, everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it.

A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal.

It turned out... That the winner was DEAF!!!!

The wisdom of this story is: Never listen to other people's tendencies to be negative or pessimistic...

Always think of the power words have. Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!

Therefore: ALWAYS be... POSITIVE!

And above all: Be DEAF when people tell YOU that you can not fulfill your dreams!

Always think: God and I can do this!

12-31-2005 Quote for today

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.
-Marie Curie

Pondering

BY TONY BUJAS
With the assistance of your imagination, direct your mind in thought to the first human fight. Fear, hunger, greed, animal rage, choose one or more as the reason why. See it! Feel it! The victor gets the spoils, gets his way, and if anybody challenges his authority he kills them also. Ego rules! The cunning and skill he has used in hunting food he brings with him to his one-on-one encounters. Others soon learn to fear him. Some of the weaker individuals smartly make alliance with each other to stand against the bully!

Life is good for the tough warrior; he takes a mate, has a child, and, realizes that maybe being the meanest man around is now backfiring on him. Who will protect his mate & child when he goes hunting? And…what if…somebody…who can kill him…shows up? If he tries to force the weaker ones he's beaten to do his bidding when he's not around, they may kill his wife & child and run off. He looks for another family unit, someone in the same situation as him. A tribe is formed, from which will grow a village, and then a city. Cooperation is learned for the good of all. Responsibility rests on the leader's shoulders. The defense of the village is a main priority, for marauding bandits, and other tribes will take advantage of them if they are not strong.

War is a good teacher, in order to survive and conquer; techniques, methods, weapons, strategies, vulnerabilities, psychology, … are all developed to high levels due to the necessity to dominate the enemy. War arts on all terrains, for the individual, a small troop, an army, a navy, as well as healing & cooking arts come to be encompassed. Care for individuals and their animals of war start with good food and methods of injury treatment and rehabilitation. And, when killing makes one turn away in disgust, when one tires of losing his friends and loved ones due to war, spirituality is turned to.

In what we now know as Asia, the art of hunting & survival, flourished into many branches: unarmed-combat, weapons-combat, solo & group combat, military strategy, psychology, cooking, healing, qigong, love, philosophy, religion, spirituality, … Savagery, necessity and war have evolved into health, healing, fitness, fun, compassion, and meditational type pursuits for our current day and age. We modern day pursuitists, have inherited the knowledge of the ancestors, do we have the wisdom to continue to evolve to a higher level. Hmm! Let me ponder the possibilities!

Your 'thinking mind' can be exercised down any branch of possible scenarios, (as exampled above), that you may be questing to answers for. Insights may come gently in the background, directly to your focus of attention, at a later time in you daily living, or in a surprising fashion. Just another tool to try, relax and enjoy.

Play the movie in your mind, run through the gamut of possibilities, PONDER!

12-30-2005 Quote for today

The persuit of learning is like climbing. With each step the climber moves higher.

12-29-2005 Quote for today

For you who no longer posses it, freedom is everything, for us who do, it is merely an illusion.
-Emile M. Cioran

12-28-2005 Quote for today

Living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing.
– Socrates

12-27-2005 Quote for today

What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers.
-Matina Horner

12-26-2005 Quote for today

Love is the bridge that takes us past our minds into the truth.

Zen story - Prosperity

A rich man asked a Zen master to write something down that could encourage the prosperity of his family for years to come. It would be something that the family could cherish for generations. On a large piece of paper, the master wrote, "Father dies, son dies, grandson dies." The rich man became angry when he saw the master's work. "I asked you to write something down that could bring happiness and prosperity to my family. Why do you give me something depressing like this?" "If your son should die before you," the master answered, "this would bring unbearable grief to your family. If your grandson should die before your son, this also would bring great sorrow. But if your family, generation after generation, disappears in the order I have described, it will be the natural course of life. This is true happiness and prosperity."

Merry Christmas to the One I Love

Merry Christmas to the one I love,
Even on this day of love for all,
Remembering the love of one whose call
Redeemed all those whose hearts his love might move.
Yet only one love does my spirit prove,
Chosen in a passion like a squall,
Having in such ecstasy withal
Rejoiced in what we were created of.
In such love do we find our way outdoors,
So to be drawn to love of flesh and soul,
Traveling beyond our village green,
Moving towards the wash along our shores
As our love joins the greater love unseen,
Shining with dark passion on the whole.

12-24-2005 Quote for today

There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.
– Freya Stark

12-23-2005 Quote for today

When you get into a tight place and it seems that you can't go on, hold on, for that's just the place and the time that the tide will turn.
-Harriet Beecher Stowe

Taoist story - Priority

A hermit was meditating by a river when a young man interrupted him. "Master, I wish to become your disciple," said the man. "Why?" replied the hermit. The young man thought for a moment. "Because I want to find God."

The master jumped up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him into the river, and plunged his head under water. After holding him there for a minute, with him kicking and struggling to free himself, the master finally pulled him up out of the river. The young man coughed up water and gasped to get his breath. When he eventually quieted down, the master spoke. "Tell me, what did you want most of all when you were under water." "Air!" answered the man.

"Very well," said the master. "Go home and come back to me when you want God as much as you just wanted air."

12-22-2005 Quote for today

The average man does not know what to do with this life, yet wants another one which will last forever.
-Anatole France

12-21-2005 Quote for today

"Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road."
– Dag Hammarskjold

Taoist story - Obsessed

Two traveling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed.

As the monks continued on their way, the one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. "Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!"

"Brother," the second monk replied, "I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her."

12-20-2005 Quote for today

"What we hope ever to do with ease we may learn first to do with diligence."
–Samuel Johnson

12-19-2005 Quote for today

"All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience."
–Henry Miller

12-18-2005 Quote for today

"I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well."
– Diane Ackerman

12-17-2005 Quote for today

"Life begets life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich."
– Sarah Bernhardt

Taoist Story - No Questions

Upon meeting a Zen master at a social event, a psychiatrist decided to ask him a question that had been on his mind. "Exactly how do you help people?" he inquired.

"I get them to where they can't ask any more questions," the Master answered.

12-16-2005 Quote for today

"Many things which cannot be overcome when they are together yield themselves up when taken little by little."
– Plutarch

12-15-2005 Quote for today

"Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy."
–Pyotr Tchaikovsky

12-14-2005 Quote for today

We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.
-Benjamin Disraeli

12-13-2005 Quote for today

A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.
-Thomas Carlyle

Taoist Story - My Words

The wife of a man became very sick. On her deathbed, she said to him, "I love you so much! I don't want to leave you, and I don't want you to betray me. Promise that you will not see any other women once I die, or I will come back to haunt you."

For several months after her death, the husband did avoid other women, but then he met someone and fell in love. On the night they were engaged to be married, the ghost of his former wife appeared to him. She blamed him for not keeping the promise, and every night thereafter she returned to taunt him. The ghost would remind him of everything that transpired between him and his fiancee that day, even to the point of repeating, word for word, their conversations. It upset him so badly that he couldn't sleep at all.

Desperate, he sought the advice of a Zen master who lived near the village. "This is a very clever ghost," the master said upon hearing the man's story. "It is!" replied the man. "She remembers every detail of what I say and do. It knows everything!" The master smiled, "You should admire such a ghost, but I will tell you what to do the next time you see it."

That night the ghost returned. The man responded just as the master had advised. "You are such a wise ghost," the man said, "You know that I can hide nothing from you. If you can answer me one question, I will break off the engagement and remain single for the rest of my life." "Ask your question," the ghost replied. The man scooped up a handful of beans from a large bag on the floor, "Tell me exactly how many beans there are in my hand."

At that moment the ghost disappeared and never returned.

12-12-2005 Quote for today

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.
-Leonardo da Vinci

12-11-2005 Quote for today

The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. We cannot exist without mutual help. All therefore that need aid have a right to ask it from their fellow-men; and no one who has the power of granting can refuse it without guilt.
-Walter Scott

12-10-2005 Quote for today

Nothing wilts faster than laurels that have been rested upon.
-Percy Bysshe Shelley

12-9-2005 Quote for today

How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.
-George Burns

12-8-2005 Quote for today

"Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength."
No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is,
if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster.
-His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Taoist Story - Moving

Two men were arguing about a flag flapping in the wind.
"It's the wind that is really moving," stated the first one.
"No, it is the flag that is moving," contended the second.
A Zen master, who happened to be walking by, overheard the debate and interrupted them. "Neither the flag nor the wind is moving," he said, "It is mind that moves."

12-7-2005 Quote for today

Suppressed grief suffocates, it rages within the breast, and is forced to multiply its strength.
-Ovid

12-6-2005 Quote for today

To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.
-Bertrand Russell

12-5-2005 Quote for today

Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.
-Michel de Montaigne

Taoist Story - Maybe

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. "Maybe," the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed. "Maybe," replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "Maybe," answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "Maybe," said the farmer.

12-4-2005 Quotes for today

That best portion of a man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.
-William Wordsworth

Mokusen's Hand

Mokusen Hiki was living in a temple in the province of Tamba. One of his adherents complained of the stinginess of his wife.

Mokusen visited her, showing his clenched fist before her face.
"What do you mean by that?" asked the surprised woman.
"Suppose my fist were always like that. What would you call it?" he asked.
"Deformed," replied the woman.

Then he opened his hand flat in her face and asked:
"Suppose it were always like that. What then?"
"Another kind of deformity," said the wife.

"If you understand that much," finished Mokusen,
"you are a good wife." Then he left.

After his visit, this wife helped her husband to distribute as well as to save.

Each of Us Must Climb Our Separate Mountain

By William Byrd
Each of us must climb our separate mountain
To reach at last our own extended view.
We can be no more than what we are,
Yet that is quite enough for us to do.

The world is far too great for comprehension,
And so we only know what we can know.
But given the abilities we're given,
That's still a long and weary way to go.

Yet on the way, how beautiful the moments!
How good it feels to have some skill or art!
How wonderful to pause in awestruck wonder
At what must fill the unsuspecting heart!

And so we're proud of each of you today
For all you've learned, and all you've tried to learn.
Knowledge brings the deepest satisfaction,
Not least because it's something that you earn.

12-3-2005 Quote for today

What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by chance, when all the skill of art is not able to make an oyster!
-Anatole France

Zen Story - Masterpiece

A master calligrapher was writing some characters onto a piece of paper. One of his especially perceptive students was watching him. When the calligrapher was finished, he asked for the student's opinion - who immediately told him that it wasn't any good. The master tried again, but the student criticized the work again. Over and over, the calligrapher carefully redrew the same characters, and each time the student rejected it. Finally, when the student had turned his attention away to something else and wasn't watching, the master seized the opportunity to quickly dash off the characters. "There! How's that?," he asked the student. The student turned to look. "That is a masterpiece!" he exclaimed.

12-2-2005 Quote for today

Life is very interesting... in the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths.
-Drew Barrymore

12-1-2005 Quote for today

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
-Josh Billings

Zen story - Man Of Tao

A student once asked, "What is the difference between a Man of Tao and a little man?" The Zen Master replied, "It is simple. When the little man becomes a student, he can hardly wait to run home and shout at the top of his voice to tell everyone. Upon hearing the words of the master, he will climb to the rooftops and shout to the people. Upon learning the ways of the master, he will parade through town telling one and all about his new knowledge".

The Zen Master continues, "When the Man of Tao becomes a student, he will bow his head in gratitude. Upon hearing the words of the master, he will bow his head and his shoulders. Upon learning the ways of the master, he will bow to the waist and quietly walk alongside the wall so that people will not see him or notice him".

11-30-2005 Quote for today

To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.
-William Blake

11-29-2005 Quote for today

When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.
-Helen Keller

11-28-2005 Quote for today

A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

Truth conquers without force and does no harm!

There is great knowledge in the world of men. One could spend their entire life accumulating knowledge and never reach more than a fraction of its total. He could travel the extent of the Earth spreading his knowledge and get all the accolades and honors humanity can give, yet he’ll never get a fraction of the truth nor the true peace.

The true knowledge is in understanding nature and knowing the self. In this way, there is nothing left that could possibly be misunderstood. When one knows nature and the self, he knows the universe and how everything connects and blends into One. Beyond this, there is no argument or oration that can do justice to truth.

It’s the truth that conquers without force and so it does no harm. It is the Tao!

11-27-2005 Quote for today

Those who visit foreign nations, but associate only with their own country-men, change their climate, but not their customs. They see new meridians, but the same men; and with heads as empty as their pockets, return home with traveled bodies, but untravelled minds.
-Charles Caleb Colton

Repaying Betrayal with Forgiveness

"More powerful than vengeance exacted, is forgiveness given."

In one of his previous births the Buddha (as a Bodhisattva) was a deer, golden in colour and with a very sweet voice. One day, he heard a man in a river crying out for help and swam across to save him. He then set him on the path to the city of Benares. Before they parted, the deer requested the man to keep his existence a secret and not guide anyone to his part of the forest. On reaching Benares, the man heard that the king had offered a reward to anyone who could tell him about a golden deer, as his Queen Khema had dreamt of such a deer and desired that it be brought to her.

Overcome with greed, the man guided the king to the forest where the golden deer lived. The king's huntsmen caught the deer. Just as the king was about to shoot an arrow at the golden deer, it spoke out to him. The king was enchanted by the deer's sweet voice. On hearing that the deer had been treacherously betrayed by the man whose life it had saved, the king declared that he would kill him.

The kindly Bodhisattva, however, intervened and requested the king to spare the man's life. The king then took the golden deer to the city of Benares with great honour and requested it to give a discourse to the queen. The Bodhisattva preached the Law of Dharma to Queen Khema and the court of Benares.

Zen story - Liberation

A monk set off on a long pilgrimage to find the Buddha. He devoted many years to his search until he finally reached the land where the Buddha was said to live. While crossing the river to this country, the monk looked around as the boatman rowed. He noticed something floating towards them. As it got closer, he realized that it was the corpse of a person. When it drifted so close that he could almost touch it, he suddenly recognized the dead body, it was his own! He lost all control and wailed at the sight of himself, still and lifeless, drifting along the river's currents. That moment was the beginning of his liberation.

11-26-2005 Quote for today

If you light a lamp for somebody,
it will also brighten your path.
-Buddhist Saying

11-25-2005 Quote for today

A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.
-C. S. Lewis

11-24-2005 Quote for today

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather in spite of ourselves.
-Victor Hugo

11-23-2005 Quote for toady

"Excellence is not an act but a habit. The things you do the most are the things you will do the best."
– Marva Collins

Zen Story - Intention

The Zen master Hakuin used to tell his students about an old woman who owned a tea shop in the village. She was skilled in the tea ceremony, Hakuin said, and her understanding of Zen was superb. Many students wondered about this and went to the village themselves to check her out. Whenever the old woman saw them coming, she could tell immediately whether they had come to experience the tea, or to probe her grasp of Zen. Those wanting tea, she served graciously. For the others wanting to learn about her Zen knowledge, she hid until they approached her door and then attacked them with a fire poker. Only one out of ten managed to escape her beating.

11-22-2005 Quote for today

I experience God as a life force that flows through the universe.
-John Shelby Spong

11-21-2005 Quote for today

An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.
-W. Somerset Maugham

11-20-2005 Quote for today

Education is not a problem. Education is an opportunity.
-Lyndon B. Johnson

Zen Story - In Your Hands

A young man caught a small bird, and held it behind his back. He then asked, "Master, is the bird I hold in my hands alive or dead." The boy thought this was a grand opportunity to play a trick on the old man. If the master answered "dead", it would be let loose into the air. If the master answered "alive", he would simply wring its neck. The master spoke, "The answer is in your hands".

11-19-2005 Quote for today

A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished.
-Friedrich Schiller

11-18-2005 Quote for today

To watch others' weakness is to collect trash in our minds.
Most people can see others' weakness, but not their own trash.
-Dharma Master Cheng Yen

Zen Story - Ten Old Men Enjoying Longevity

Once upon a time, a wayfarer came across ten old men; Over a hundred years of age, All of them were vigorous all the more; With earnesty and sincerity, he hastened forward for the key to their venerable age.

The first, twisting his beard, said:
I neither drink nor smoke.

The second, smiling, replied:
I take a hike after meats.

The third, nodding, answered:
I have a vegetarian diet.

The fourth, a stick in hand, said:
I have all along walked instead of riding.

The fifth, straightening his sleeves, said:
I myself have always taken part in physical labor.

The sixth, carrying a posture of yin-yang regulation, said:
I practice shadow boxing every day.

The seventh, rubbing his big nose, said:
I always leave windows open to let in fresh air.

The eighth, stroking his short beard, said:
I retire early and rise early.

The ninth, caressing his red cheeks, said:
I resort to sun bath to cause the skin sun burns.

The tenth, raising his eyebrows, said:
I always keep myself from worries.

Excellent are the statements by the ten old men which explains the secrets one by one. If you obey them with sincerity, you will surely enjoy longevity.

11-17-2005 Quote for today

Do not think of your faults, still less of other's faults; look for what is good and strong, and try to imitate it. Your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.
-John Ruskin

11-16-2005 Quote for today

Be curious, not judgmental.
-Walt Whitman

Zen Story - How Long

A martial arts student went to his teacher and said earnestly, "I am devoted to studying your system. How long will it take me to master it." The teacher's reply was casual, "Ten years." Impatiently, the student answered, "But I want to master it faster than that. I will work very hard. I will practice everyday, ten or more hours a day if I have to. How long will it take then?" The teacher thought for a moment, "20 years."

11-15-2005 Quote for today

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.
-Kahlil Gibran

11-14-2005 Quote for today

“Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners.”
—William Shakespeare

11-13-2005 Quote for today

You traverse the world in search of happiness, which is within the reach of every man. A contented mind confers it on all.
-Horace

Zen Story - Holy Man

Word spread across the countryside about the wise Holy Man who lived in a small house atop the mountain. A man from the village decided to make the long and difficult journey to visit him. When he arrived at the house, he saw an old servant inside. "I would like to see the Holy Man," he said to the servant. The servant smiled and led him inside. As they walked through the house, the man from the village looked eagerly around the house, anticipating his encounter with the Holy Man. Before he knew it, he had been led to the back door and escorted outside. He stopped and turned to the servant, "But I want to see the Holy Man!"

"You already have," said the wise-old man. "Everyone you may meet in life, even if they appear plain and insignificant, see each of them as a Holy Man. If you do this, then whatever problem you brought here today will be solved."

11-12-2005 Quote for today

Good nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the persons who possess it.
-Henry Ward Beecher

Zen Story - Greatest Teaching

A renowned Zen master said that his greatest teaching was this:

Buddha is your own mind.

So impressed by how profound this idea was, one monk decided to leave the monastery and retreat to the wilderness to meditate on this insight. There he spent 20 years as a hermit probing the great teaching.

One day he met another monk who was traveling through the forest. Quickly the hermit monk learned that the traveler also had studied under the same Zen master. "Please, tell me what you know of the master's greatest teaching." The traveler's eyes lit up, "Ah, the master has been very clear about this." His greatest teaching is this:

Buddha is not your own mind.

11-11-2005 Quote for today

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark.
The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."
-Plato

11-10-2005 Quote for today

Can anything be sadder than work unfinished?
Yes, work never begun.
– Christina Rossetti

Zen Story - Go With The Flow

A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive.

"I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."

11-9-2005 Quote for today

For lack of attention a thousand forms of loveliness elude us every day.
— Evelyn Underhill

Waiting : For What?

What are you waiting for?
For something amazing to happen to change your life?
Why not make it happen?

Sitting and waiting,
with countless wandering thoughts flitting by,
is the opposite of just being and meditating.

Why not just watch your mind?
Real calmly, real mindfully, real closely.
Something amazing will happen.

You will gain insight into your mind,
which shapes everything you experience,
which will "change" everything you experience.
by shian

How to Receive Insult

On one occasion, the Buddha was invited by the Brahmin Bharadvaja for alms to his house. As invited, the Buddha visited the house of the Brahmin. Instead of entertaining Him, the Brahmin poured forth a torrent of abuse with the filthiest of words. The Buddha politely inquired"

"Do visitors come to your house, good Brahmin?"
"Yes," he replied.
"What do yu do when they come?"
"Oh, we prepare a sumptuous feast."
"What do you if they refuse to receive the meal?"
"Why, we gladly partake of them ourselves."

"Well, good Brahmin, you have invited me for alms and entertained me with abuse which I decline to accept. So now it belongs to you."

The Buddha did not retaliate but politely gave back what the Brahmin had given Him. Retaliate not, the Buddha advised. "Hatred does not cease through hatred but through love alone they cease."

Zen Story - Gift Of Insults

There once lived a great warrior. Though quite old, he still was able to defeat any challenger. His reputation extended far and wide throughout the land and many students gathered to study under him.
One day an infamous young warrior arrived at the village. He was determined to be the first man to defeat the great master. Along with his strength, he had an uncanny ability to spot and exploit any weakness in an opponent. He would wait for his opponent to make the first move, thus revealing a weakness, and then would strike with merciless force and lightning speed. No one had ever lasted with him in a match beyond the first move.

Much against the advice of his concerned students, the old master gladly accepted the young warrior's challenge. As the two squared off for battle, the young warrior began to hurl insults at the old master. He threw dirt and spit in his face. For hours he verbally assaulted him with every curse and insult known to mankind. But the old warrior merely stood there motionless and calm. Finally, the young warrior exhausted himself. Knowing he was defeated, he left feeling shamed.

Somewhat disappointed that he did not fight the insolent youth, the students gathered around the old master and questioned him. "How could you endure such an indignity? How did you drive him away?"

"If someone comes to give you a gift and you do not receive it," the master replied, "to whom does the gift belong?"

11-8-2005 Quote for today

Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the Infinite.
-Francis Bacon

11-7-2005 Quote for today

We should every night call ourselves to an account: what infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired?
Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.
-Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Zen Story - Full Awareness

After ten years of apprenticeship, Tenno achieved the rank of Zen teacher. One rainy day, he went to visit the famous master Nan-in. When he walked in, the master greeted him with a question, "Did you leave your wooden clogs and umbrella on the porch?"

"Yes," Tenno replied.

"Tell me," the master continued, "did you place your umbrella to the left of your shoes, or to the right?"

Tenno did not know the answer, and realized that he had not yet attained full awareness. So he became Nan-in's apprentice and studied under him for ten more years.

11-6-2005 Quote for today

The quality of one's life depends on the quality of attention. Whatever you pay attention to will grow more important in your life.
— Deepak Chopra

Zen story - Enlightenment

Once there was a well known philosopher and scholar who devoted himself to the study of Zen for many years. On the day that he finally attained enlightenment, he took all of his books out into the yard, and burned them all.

11-5-2005 Quote for today

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
-William Shakespeare

Zen Story - Enlightened Being

One of master Gasan's monks visited the university in Tokyo. When he returned, he asked the master if he had ever read the Christian Bible. "No," Gasan replied, "Please read some of it to me." The monk opened the Bible to the Sermon on the Mount in St. Matthew, and began reading. After reading Christ's words about the lilies in the field, he paused. Master Gasan was silent for a long time. "Yes," he finally said, "Whoever uttered these words is an enlightened being. What you have read to me is the essence of everything I have been trying to teach you here!"

11-4-2005 Quote for today

"I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time."
– Anna Freud

11-3-2005 Quote for today

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.
-Aristotle

11-2-2005 - Quote for today

Do you wish people to think well of you? Don't speak well of yourself.
- Blaise Pascal

Lyrics - Nat King Cole

Pretend you're happy when you're blue
It isn't very hard to do
And you'll find happiness without an end
Whenever you pretend

Remember anyone can dream
And nothing's bad as it may seem
The little things you haven't got
Could be a lot if you pretend

You'll find a love you can share
One you can call all your own
Just close your eyes, she'll be there
You'll never be alone

And if you sing this melody
You'll be pretending just like me
The world is mine, it can be yours, my friend
So why don't you pretend?



And if you sing this melody
You'll be pretending just like me
The world is mine, it can be yours, my friend
So why don't you pretend?

Zen story - Empty Your Cup

A university professor went to visit a famous Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the professor talked about Zen. The master poured the visitor's cup to the brim, and then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself. "It's overfull! No more will go in!" the professor blurted. "You are like this cup," the master replied, "How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup."

11-1-2005 Quote for today

A good indignation brings out all one's powers.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

10-31-2005 Quote for today

"What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers."
– Matina Horner

Buddhist Story - The Story of 11 Piglets

Once upon a time in Yongzhou (China), there lived a butcher whose surname was Zhang. Everyday he would kill a pig to supply the demand for the people who lived around him. However, slaughtering pigs was an act of killing sentient beings.

Therefore he often thought of making a living out of another profession, "Hmm, I should change my profession! There are many jobs I can do out of '360 professions'. Why should I be a butcher? My knife has to kill a pig and "dye" it red each day. If I kill 30 pigs each month, then I would have killed 360 pigs every year. It's terrible whenever I think about it."

However, Butcher Zhang had a family to feed. Slaughtering pigs was a profession he could do with ease. Therefore his thought of changing profession became replaced by another thought. He would reassure himself, "Oh well, well! Changing profession is not that easy, is it? Furthermore, it isn't me who like killing pigs. It's other people who like to eat pork. Otherwise, who would I sell them to when I kill them? Even though I incur bad retribution, those who eat pork should also share the responsibilities with me as well. Also we keep pigs because we want to eat them, don't we?!!"

Since he has to arrive at the morning market early, and because the pigs made tremendous noise as he killed them, he chose to slaughter at dawn. Butcher Zhang had a habit which he had been keeping up for years. Every morning, as soon as he heard the bell sound from the nearby Buddhist temple, he would get up and slaughter a pig. This habitual action had never changed.

However, one day, he got up late. Later, he found out that the temple did not ring the bell at all that morning. When the butcher went to the pig-shed, he discovered the mother pig he was going to kill had given birth to 11 piglets in the morning. Every one of them was leaning close to the mother, suckling her milk. How lovely they were! He felt the event was extraordinary.

Therefore he went to the temple. The abbot of the temple told him, "I had a dream last night. I dreamt of 11 children who knelt down to beg me to save the life of their mother. I asked them how I could save her. They replied it was very simple. All I needed to do was not to ring the bell." 11 children? 11 pigs? Suddenly the butcher understood the relationship between them. He threw his butcher knife into the river. Eventually, he changed his profession.

- Extract of "Buddhist Children Stories" (The White Cloud Cultural Centre) [slightly touched up]

10-30-2005 Quote for today

A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.
- Albert Einstein

10-29-2005 Quote for today

We are punished by our sins, not for them.
- Elbert Hubbard

Zen Story - Egotism

The Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty was a national hero for his success as both a statesman and military leader. But despite his fame, power, and wealth, he considered himself a humble and devout Buddhist. Often he visited his favorite Zen master to study under him, and they seemed to get along very well. The fact that he was prime minister apparently had no effect on their relationship, which seemed to be simply one of a revered master and respectful student.

One day, during his usual visit, the Prime Minister asked the master, "Your Reverence, what is egotism according to Buddhism?" The master's face turned red, and in a very condescending and insulting tone of voice, he shot back, "What kind of stupid question is that?"

This unexpected response so shocked the Prime Minister that he became sullen and angry. The Zen master then smiled and said, "THIS, Your Excellency, is egotism."

10-28-2005 Quote for today

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
- Henry David Thoreau

10-27-2005 Quote for today

The words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.
- Saint Augustine

10-26-2005 Quote for today

It is impossible to walk rapidly and be unhappy.
- Mother Teresa

Zen Story - Eat & Sleep

A student once asked his teacher, "Master, what is enlightenment?"

The master replied, "When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep."

10-25-2005 Quote for today

If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.
- H. G. Wells

10-24-2005 Quote for today

"We are made to persist. That's how we find out who we are."
– Tobias Wolff

10-23-2005 Quote for today

"We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn."
– Mary Catherine Bateson

10-22-2005 Quote for today

Don't look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes you'll know you're dead.
- Tennessee Williams

The Mystery of the Buddha's Flower

There is a story about a flower which is well known in the Zen circles. One day the Buddha held up a flower in front of an audience of 1250 monks and nuns. He did not say anything for quite a long time. The audience was perfectly silent. Everyone seemed to be thinking hard, trying to see the meaning behind the Buddha's gesture.

Then, suddenly, the Buddha smiled. He smiled because someone in the audience smiled at him and at the flower. The name of the at monk was Mahakashyapa. He was the only person who smiled, and the Buddha smiled back and said, " I have a treasure of insight, and I have transmitted it to Mahakashyapa."

The story has been discussed by many generations of Zen students, and people continue to look for its meaning. To me the meaning is quite simple. When someone holds up a flower and shows it to you. He want you to see it. If you keep thinking, you miss the flower. The person who was not thinking, who was just himself, was able to encounter the flower in depth, and he smiled.

That is the problem of life. If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything. When a child presents himself to you with his smile, if you are not really there thinking about the future or the past, or preoccupied with other problems then the child is not really there for you. The technique of being alive is to go back to yourself in order for the child to appear like a marvelous reality. Then you can see him smile and you can embrace him in your arms.

10-21-2005 Quote for today

"Many things which cannot be overcome when they are together yield themselves up when taken little by little."
– Plutarch

10-20-2005 Quote for today

The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will intrest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.
- Thomas Edison

10-19-2005 Quote for today

For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.
- Martin Luther

10-18-2005 Quote for today

To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language.
- William C. Bryant

10-17-2005 Quote for today

Ask yourself the secret of YOUR success. Listen to your answer, and practice it!
- Richard Bach

10-16-05 Quote for today

Life is as if a king has sent you to a country to perform one special task. If you go there and accomplish a hundred other things, but not that particular task, then it's as if you've accomplished nothing at all.
- Persian mystic poet Rumi

What is the task? All the sages tell us that we've come into this world to realize God. Buddhists, of course, would not say "God," but "Buddha nature." Or they might say that the task is to become fully awakened.

There are three fundamental rules that all the wisdom traditions say will help us accomplish our task, if we follow them.
The first is to be cautious about materialism: Don't want too much. Live modestly.
The second is to dedicate yourself to something you believe in, something you think is beautiful and important.
The third is to commit yourself to a personal spiritual practice that you can follow every day, even if just for a few minutes. Devote some part of your day to sitting in silence and saying, "Here I am. Guide me."

The point is that if we search outside ourselves for the meaning of life, we'll probably never find it. But if we center ourselves and look for meaning in life, we'll find that it's waiting for us right here in the present moment. And I'm not just talking about the popular notion of "seizing the day," which sometimes can mean little more than eating dessert first. I mean that a more profound spiritual power and freedom are available to us; that we are much deeper than we usually let on.

10-15-05 Quote for today

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
- Carl Sagan

10-14-05 Poem

A Flower
Opens to a new day
It is beautiful to look upon
-Kiachu Shen Ku

10-14-2005 Quote for today

"Life begets life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich."

– Sarah Bernhardt

Taoist Story - Dreams

Chuang Tzu, ancient Chinese Taoist, once experienced a dream in which he was a butterfly fluttering to & fro. In the dream he had no awareness of his individuality as a person; he was simply a butterfly. Suddenly, he awoke and found that once again he was a human laying in bed. But then he thought to himself, "Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being a man?"

10-13-2005 Quote for today

The best way to know God is to love many things.
- Vincent Van Gogh

10-12-05 Quote for today

In life you are always climbing a mountain.
As you move higher you have to drop more baggage.
You will find that at times carrying yourself is enough.
When standing on the summit, without baggage,
You are enlightened!
- Kiachu Shen Ku

10-11-2005 Quote for today

"It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be sightly harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg."

– C. S. Lewis

Zen Story - Destiny

During a momentous battle, a Japanese general decided to attack even though his army was greatly outnumbered. He was confident they would win, but his men were filled with doubt. On the way to battle, they stopped at a religious shrine. After praying with the men, the general took out a coin and said, "I shall now toss this coin. If it is heads, we shall win. If tails, we shall lose. Destiny will now reveal itself."
He threw the coin into the air and all watched intently as it landed. It was heads! The soldiers were so overjoyed and filled with confidence that they vigorously attacked the enemy and were victorious. After the battle, a lieutenant remarked to the general, "No one can change destiny."

"Quite right," the general replied as he showed the lieutenant the coin, which had heads on both sides.

Zen Story - Desperate

The son of a master thief asked his father to teach him the secrets of the trade. The old thief agreed and that night took his son to burglarize a large house. While the family was asleep, he silently led his young apprentice into a room that contained a clothes closet. The father told his son to go into the closet to pick out some clothes. When he did, his father quickly shut the door and locked him in. Then he went back outside, knocked loudly on the front door, thereby waking the family, and quickly slipped away before anyone saw him. Hours later, his son returned home, bedraggled and exhausted. "Father," he cried angrily, "Why did you lock me in that closet? If I hadn't been made desperate by my fear of getting caught, I never would have escaped. It took all my ingenuity to get out!" The old thief smiled. "Son, you have had your first lesson in the art of burglary."

10-10-2005 Quote for today

"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
– Pablo Picasso

10+9+2005 Quote for today

A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword.
- Robert Burton

10-8-2005 Quote for today

"All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience."

– Henry Miller

Tao Te Ching - Jeff Rasmussen

Something
mysterious
timeless
solitary
perpetual
infinite
empty

I do not know its name I call it Tao

It flows
up and down
far and near
in and out
ever leaving and ever returning

Humankind follows earth
Earth follows heaven
Heaven follows Tao
Tao follows Tao

Zen Story - Curiosity

Once there was an old man who lived at the top of a very high and dangerous precipice. Every morning he would sit at the edge of the cliff and view the surrounding mountains and forest. One day, after he set himself down for his usual meditation, he noticed something shiny at the very bottom of the precipice. Now even though it was very far below him, the old man had keen eyes and could just barely make out what it was. It looked like a rather large, black chest with gold trimmings, just sitting there atop a rock. The old man thought to himself, "Where did it come from? What could be inside?"

10-7-2005 Quote for today

"Parties who want milk should not seat themselves on a stool in the middle of the field in hope that the cow will back up to them."

– Elbert Hubbard

10-6-2005 Quote for today

To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever.
- Henry Drummond

Zen Story - Concentration

A young and rather boastful champion challenged a Zen master who was renowned for his skill as an archer. The young man demonstrated remarkable technical proficiency when he hit a distant bull's eye on his first try, and then split that arrow with his second shot. "There," he said to the old man, "see if you can match that!" Undisturbed, the master did not draw his bow, but rather motioned for the young archer to follow him up the mountain. Curious about the old fellow's intentions, the champion followed him high into the mountain until they reached a deep chasm spanned by a rather flimsy and shaky log. Calmly stepping out onto the middle of the unsteady and certainly perilous bridge, the old master picked a far away tree as a target, drew his bow, and fired a clean, direct hit. "Now it is your turn," he said as he gracefully stepped back onto the safe ground. Staring with terror into the seemingly bottomless and beckoning abyss, the young man could not force himself to step out onto the log, no less shoot at a target. "You have much skill with your bow," the master said, sensing his challenger's predicament, "but you have little skill with the mind that lets loose the shot."

10-5-2005 Quote for today

The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.
- Wendell Berry

10-4-2005 Quote for today

When you awaken some morning and hear that somebody or other has been discovered, you can put it down as a fact that he discovered himself years ago - since that time he has been toiling, working, and striving to make himself worthy of general discovery.
- James Whitcomb Riley

10-3-2005 Quote for today

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.
- Galileo Galilei

Lyrics - PBS's Arthur Theme Song

'And I say hey
HEY!
What a wonderfull kind of day
Where you can learn to work and play
and get along with eachother...


You gotto listen to your heart
listen to the beat
listen to the rythm
rythm of the street
open up your ears
open up your eyes
something something to make it better
by working together

It's a simple message
and it comes form the heart
believe in yourself
'believe in yourself'
thats the place to start!'

10-2-2005 Quote for today

The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing.
- Eric Berne

10-1-2005 Quote for today

"Since no one is perfect, it follows that all great deeds have been accomplished out of imperfection. Yet they were accomplished, somehow, all the same."

– Lois McMaster Bujold

9-30-2005 Quote for today

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

9-29-2005 Quote for today

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
-Aristotle

9-28-2005 Quote of the day

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
-Mohandas Gandhi

9-27-2005 Quote of the day

"Courage is the human virtue that counts most — courage to act on limited knowledge and insufficient evidence. That's all any of us have."

– Robert Frost

9-26-2005 Quote of the day

"Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact."

– William James

9-25-2005 Quote of the day

"What we hope ever to do with ease we may learn first to do with diligence."

– Samuel Johnson

9-24-2005 Quote for today

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face."

– Eleanor Roosevelt

9-23-2005 Quote of the day

"Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road."

– Dag Hammarskjold

9-22-2005 Quote for today

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.

Albert Einstein

9-21-2005 Quote for today

A man's as miserable as he thinks he is.
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

9-21-2005 Quote for Today

A useless life is an early death.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

9-20-2005 Quote for today

Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward the life that God intended for you with grace, strength, courage, and confidence.
- Og Mandino

9-19-2005 Quote for today

A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything.
- David Grayson

9-18-2005 Quote for today

The universe is full of magical things
patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

- Eden Phillpots

9-17-2005 Quote for today

"Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river."
- Lao Tse

Physics - Universe

Newton's 3rd Law
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Newton's third law, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, when one object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts a force of equal strength in the opposite direction on the first object.

Newton's Law of universal Gravitation
Every object in the Universe atracts every other object with a force directed along the line of centers for the two objects that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the separation between the two objects.

Lyrics - Dust in Wind Lyrics - Kansas

I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams, pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind.
Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do, crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind

[Now] Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy.

Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind, everything is dust in the wind.

Searching For The Dharma - A Poem by Hsu Yun

You've traveled up ten thousand steps in search of the Dharma.

So many long days in the archives, copying, copying.

The gravity of the Tang and the profundity of the Sung make heavy baggage.

Here! I've picked you a bunch of wildflowers.

Their meaning is the same

but they're much easier to carry.

9-14-2005 Quote for today

Happiness is an attitude of mind, born of the simple determination to be
happy under all outward circumstances.
- J. Donald Walters

9-13-2005 Quote for today

Happiness is not best achieved by those who seek it directly.
- Bertrand Russell