A young man, a student in one of the universities, was one day taking a walk with a professor, who was commonly called the students’ friend for his kindness to those who waited on his instructions.

As they went along, they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes, which were supposed to belong to a poor man who was working in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day’s work . . .

Student turned to the professor, saying: “Let us play the man a trick:

we will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them …”

“My young friend,” answered the professor, “We should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor . . . But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of this poor man.

Put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how this affects him.” Visit: The student did so and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes . . .

While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes, but feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his countenance.

He gazed upon the coin, turned it around and looked at it again and again.

He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and proceeded to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin . . .

His feelings overcame him . . . he fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and uttered aloud a fervent thanksgiving in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom this timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save from perishing . . .

The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears.

“Now,” said the professor, are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick?”

The youth replied, “You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget. .. I feel now the truth of these words, which I never understood before: “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.”

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• story source: happiness
• story source:  digging a well
• picture source: digging.gif
• related zendictive story:  shake it off 

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have a spec-tacular day

The sage looked him in the eye and said, “The reason your monastery has languished is that the Buddha is living among you in disguise, and you have not honored Him.” The abbot hurried back, his mind in turmoil

The Selfless One was at his monastery! Who could He be? Brother Hua?…No, he was full of sloth. Brother Po?…No, he was too dull. But then the Tathagata was in disguise. What better disguise than sloth or dull- wittedness? He called his monks to him and revealed the sage’s words. They, too, were taken aback and looked at each other with suspicion and awe.

Which one of them was the Chosen One?

The disguise was perfect. Not knowing who He was they took to treating everyone with the respect due to a Buddha. Their faces started shining with an inner radiance that attracted novices and then lay supporters.

In no time at all the monastery far surpassed its previous glory.

complacency

• story source: Porcupines and the coldest winter
• 2 nd story source: dirty sheets
• picture source: porcupine_lg.jpg  cuteporcupine.jpg
• related zendictive story: the secret to happiness

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have a quality day

Truth

A young widower, who loved his five year old son very much, was away on business when bandits came who burned down the whole village and took his son away. When the man returned, he saw the ruins and panicked.

He took the burnt corpse of an infant to be his son and cried uncontrollably. He organised a cremation ceremony, collected the ashes and put them in a beautiful little bag which he always kept with him.

Soon afterwards, his real son escaped from the bandits and found his way home. He arrived at his father’s new cottage at midnight and knocked at the door. The father, still grieving asked: “Who is it?”

The child answered, it is me papa, open the door!”

But in his agitated state of mind, convinced his son was dead, the father thought that some young boy was making fun of him. He shouted: “Go away” and continued to cry. After some time, the child left.

Father and son never saw each other again.” 

 
After this, the Buddha said: “Sometime, somewhere, you take something to be the truth. If you cling to it so much, even when the truth comes in person and knocks on your door, you will not open it.”

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Troubles

The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stoney silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family.

As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. After opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward, he walked me to my car. We passed the tree, and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

“Oh, that’s my trouble tree,” he replied. “I know I can’t help having troubles on the job, but one thing for sure, troubles don’t belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning, I pick them up again.” “Funny thing is,” he smiled, “when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren’t nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.”  

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• First story SOURCE: Buddism.org
• second story source: Troubles
• related zendictive story: the whole world stinks
• picture source: wave  new years  zen+monk.jpg  Zen+Stivers‑3‑10‑06‑Zen‑masters   Zen+one+hand+spanking+cartoon

may your day be trouble free

A Field Mouse or an Osprey

Author: Harold Byne

Life offers two choices.

We can live scurrying for survival or soaring to the unlimited heights. The choices are modelled by two these two creatures.

A few months back while sitting in a boat fishing with a couple of friends, I noticed a field mouse on the river bank. He emerged out of his hole, darted in a couple of directions, and then scurried back. I thought of the existence of this little creature. His life is spent running around, frightened and frantic, following his nose. He darts here, scurries there, turns in circles, but never really sees much beyond his nose. He is trying to sniff his way to successful living, which defined, by a mouse’s existence, is finding some daily morsel to consume, to sustain him, so that he can carry on for the rest of his life, frightened and frantic. Sound familiar.

A few minutes later I glanced up and noticed soaring high above was an Osprey.

Rather than a picture of a frightened and frantic existence, I saw a wide winged creature using the air currents to maneuver majestically in the unlimited heights. Rather than sniffing out a meager existence, this keen eyed hunter with a panoramic view of the river and lake beneath, was simply waiting for the appropriate time to swoop and capture his prey. The amazing creature, rather than return to some tiny hole in the river bank, glides toward a nest fashioned at the top of the tallest of trees.

The strength in his wings, the power in his talons, the amazing capacity of his vision, the effortless capacity to soar, It is the osprey, not the field mouse that models our human potential.

I don’t know about you, but it is easy for me to decide which creature I want to exemplify my life. I want to soar. I want to explore. I want to see the big picture. I want to conquer. I want to climb higher, go farther, dive deeper, and experience more. I want my soul enlarged, my mind expanded, my heart enlivened and my spirit energized. I want the scurrying to stop. I want the frantic darting about following my nose, to end. I want new strength, fresh thinking, clear vision and resolved courage.

I want to be more and more like the osprey and less like the field mouse, for to live like this field mouse is to insult my creator and deny my true destiny.

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may you soar through your day!

If ever there was a wise man, it was the master of himself, the icon for Martial Arts and an inspiration of wisdom and enlightenment…

Bruce Lee … the Dragon!

Bruce Lee 1940–1973

This inspiring story is about Bruce Lee, a legendary martial art master.

“Bruce had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We’d run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-two minutes. Just under eight minutes a mile [Note: when running on his own in 1968, Lee would get his time down to six-and-a half minutes per mile].

So this morning he said to me “We’re going to go five.”

I said, “Bruce, I can’t go five. I’m a helluva lot older than you are, and I can’t do five.”

He said, “When we get to three, we’ll shift gears and it’s only two more and you’ll do it.”

　I said “Okay, hell, I’ll go for it.” So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I’m okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, “Bruce if I run any more,” –and we’re still running-” if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die.”

He said, “Then die.” It made me so mad that I went the full five miles.

Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, “Why did you say that?”

He said, “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”

this story found here … Bruce Lee

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Born in the year of the Dragon on the hour of the Dragon destined Bruce Lee’s name “Little Dragon”

also called, “Small Phoenix” when he was very young.

Bruce Lee, born Lee Jun Fan, changed his name in order to be more like an American when he moved to the States.

nearly fourty years after his death and is still considered the number one martial artist of all times.

Don’t think, Feel, it is like a finger pointing out to the moon, don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.

If you make an ass out of yourself, there will always be someone to ride you

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There will be calmness, tranquility, when one is free from external objects and is not perturbed.

When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning, there is simplicity. The classical man is just a bundle of routine, ideas and tradition. If you follow the classical pattern, you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow – you are not understanding yourself.

If you don’t want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today.

Forget about winning and losing, forget about pride and pain

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The void is that which stands right in the middle of ‘this’ and ‘that’. The void is all-inclusive, having no opposite – there is nothing which it excludes or opposses. It is living void, because all forms come out of it and whosoever realizes the void is filled with life and power and the love of all things.

If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

exit, the Dragon

The merchant fell to the ground shaking in fear. “Don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me!” he quaked. The bandit closed in menacingly. “Here. Take my money. Take it all,” pleaded the merchant, fumbling with his coin purse.

“Your parcels too,” demanded the bandit.

“Yes. Of course. Take them too,” said the merchant. “Just let me live.”

“Then be gone,” ordered the bandit, kicking the man in rear end and sending him scurrying back down the path.

It was all too easy to rob a man like the merchant. But not everyone was so easy.

One time when the bandit was lying in wait, a lone cloaked traveler came wandering down out of the mountains. As usual the bandit sprang his ambush, shouting “Get on the ground! You’re money or your life!”

But his victim didn’t drop face down in the dirt as most of them did. Instead, he threw back his cloak to reveal a soldier’s armor. “I’ll kill you before I give you my money,” said the soldier as he drew his sword.

“We’ll see,” countered the bandit as he leapt forward.

Their swords clanged as they thrust and parried, their clashing blows sending echoes bouncing off the canyon walls.

The soldier was brave, but he was no match for the well-armed, highly skilled bandit. And soon the soldier was lying face down dead in the dirt. The bandit took the soldier’s money, his sword, and armor. Then he hid the body since he didn’t want the army out looking for him.

So it went for the bandit as he robbed or killed his victims one after another. He continued this money-or-your-life pattern, year after year, day after day.

Until one day a pandit (a Hindu religious scholar) came walking up the path.

The bandit thought twice about robbing the pandit since he was a holy man. But the fact was that the area was now well known for his banditry and it was no longer frequently traveled. The bandit never knew how long it might be before another victim came his way. So that meant he considered everyone equally as a target.

As the holy pandit approached, the bandit sprang from his hiding place and knocked the pandit to the ground, holding him there with the sword pointed at his throat.

“Give me all your money,” demanded the bandit.

“I have no money,” said the pandit.

“I’ve heard that before,” said the bandit, searching his victim.

When it turned out to be true that the old man had no money, the bandit said, “Since you have no money, I will hold you for ransom and your friends will pay.”

“I will not let them pay,” said the pandit.

“Then I will kill you,” yelled the bandit, pressing the sword tip to the pandit’s throat.

But rather than tremble with fear, the pandit laughed.

“You think death is funny?”

“No,” said the pandit. “It’s funny that you think you can get what you want with a sword.”

“I can,” said the bandit. “I control your life in this moment.”

“Yes you do,” said the pandit. “But you don’t control my experience.”

The bandit paused in thought. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“You do indeed control my life. If you press your sword into me, then I will die. But you do not control my choice to be happy. Only I control that. In this moment I choose to be happy. Whether you bring me life or death is your choice. My choice is how I feel in this moment.”

The bandit stood speechless as his unarmed victim’s words pierced his heart. In all his years it had never occurred to him that external circumstances need not determine the choices in life.

For several moments the two men stood in silence. Then as the dust around them began to settle, the bandit dropped his sword. And with an open hand he helped the pandit up from the ground.

“No one has ever spoken to me that way before,” said the bandit. It had never occurred to him before that there was another way to find happiness or personal power than by controlling people or events.

“I want to become your student,” he said.

In that moment the bandit chose a new path. One in which he began to control his life experiences from the inside instead of the outside.

Story by Matthew Joyce

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food for thought

to take from another… is an action to fill a void in oneself without feeling nor caring what the other may think or feel, there-fore not caring about ones-self.

have a peaceful day

Confucius and his disciples were often persecuted by fearful despots. Having been deported from another state, the band – passing through a remote region – encountered an old woman crying beside a grave. Confucius asked her why she wept. A tiger had killed her husband and his father, she explained, and had recently attacked her only son.

“Why do you live in this savage place?” Confucius asked. “Because there is no oppressive government here,” the woman replied.

“My children,” Confucius said, addressing his disciples, “remember that oppressive government is worse than a tiger.”

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While traveling through an arid region with his students one day Confucius, suffering from intense thirst, was offered a bowl full of water collected by a disciple from a rain puddle. He immediately emptied the bowl on the ground. “It would be too much for one, too little for all,” he declared. “Let us continue our journey.”

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Once when Confucius and his students were in the State of Chen, they ran out of food and all of the students fell ill. One of the students, Zi-lu, also a famous scholar, complained, “So, it is possible for a righteous person to become destitute!” Confucius replied, “A righteous person can guard his morality and virtue even when he is destitute; whereas a wicked person will resort to all sorts of vices when he is destitute.”

Our moral standard shouldn’t change according the situation we’re in. We are sometimes tested to see whether we can stay unmoved and hold on to our principles in tough situations. Many people will compromise themselves according to the situation, and they gradually and slowly move away from their own principles.

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Confucius travelled to many kingdoms to spread his views. One time he left the Kingdom of Wei for the Kingdom of Chen via Kuang City.

The people in Kuang City mistook Confucius as Yang Hu from Lu. Indeed, Confucius looked like Yang Hu. Yang Hu had invaded Kuang City before, and the people in Kuang City resented Yang Hu very much, so they encircled Confucius and his followers. The situation became very tense, and his followers were afraid. Confucius said, “King Wen of Zhou has died and the cultural system of Zhou has fallen upon me. If heaven wants the system to die, it will not allow me to master it. If heaven doesn’t want the system to die, what harm can the people of Kuang City do to me?”

After Confucius and his followers were surrounded for five whole days, they were finally out of danger.

During the times Confucius travelled to various kingdoms, he had come across similar situations many times. Confucius once came across somebody who wanted to harm him. Confucius said, “Heaven bestowed upon me such virtue. What can he do to me?”

this story found here… stories from ancient china

Confucius was China’s most famous Philosopher. He lived in Ancient China during the Zhou Dynasty.

Confucius was a government official, and during his lifetime (he lived from 551 to 479 B.C. ) he saw growing disorder and chaos in the system.

Perhaps due to the turmoil and injustices he saw, he set himself to develop a new moral code based on respect, honesty, education, kindness and strong family bonds.

His teachings later became the basis for religious and moral life throughout China.

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 “To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right”  

 

“Let the prince be a prince, the minister a minister, the father a father, and the son a son”

 

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do”

“Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it”

“What a superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others”

read more here… a china family adventure

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may you day be filled with enlightenment

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(They did the surgery on Alan’s hip and arm yesterday but soon after he developed 103 fever? He is still under by sedation. a ying yang… good and bad news!!)

The Horse That Wanted More Beauty

Author: Sri Chinmoy

A cosmic god had a horse. The horse was beautiful and also it had many good qualities. But it wanted to be more perfect in every way. It especially wanted to become beauty unparalleled.

One day the horse said to the cosmic god, “0 Lord, you have given me beauty. You have given me other good qualities. I am so grateful to you. But how I wish you could make me more beautiful. I would be extremely, extremely grateful if you could make me more beautiful.”

The cosmic god said, “I am more than ready to make you more beautiful. Tell me in what way you want to be changed.”

The horse said, “It seems to me that I am not well proportioned. My neck is too short. If you can make my neck a little longer, my upper body will be infinitely more beautiful. And if you can make my legs much longer and thinner, then I will look infinitely more beautiful in my lower body.”

The cosmic god said, “Amenl” Then immediately he made a camel appear in place of the horse. The horse was so disheartened that it started to cry, “0 Lord, I wanted to become more beautiful. In what way is this kind of outer form more beautiful?”

The cosmic god said, “This is exactly what you asked for. You have become a camel.”

The horse cried, “Oh no, I do not want to become a camell I wish to remain a horse. As a horse, everybody appreciated my good qualities. Nobody will appreciate me as a camel.”

The cosmic god said, “Never try to achieve or receive more than I have given you. If you want to lead a desire-life, then at every moment you will want more and more. But you have no idea what the outcome will be. If you cry for a longer neck and legs, this is what will happen. Each thing in my creation has its own good qualities. The camel is not as beautiful as you are, but it carries heavy loads and has a tremendous sense of responsibility.

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remember that; acceptance is the key to tranquility

have a beautiful day

Han-san relates the following story [note: In Japanese, "bobo" is apparently a word for intercourse, and of course "roshi" means master]:

Bobo-roshi is a Zen master, but different. If you like I’ll tell you what I know, but I don’t know if it’s all true; I only know about him by hearsay and I have only met him once. He seems to be an ordinary man but he laughs a lot and he has a very deep voice and he dresses strangely. He never wears the Zen robes but usually dresses in a simple kimono, like artists do, and sometimes he wears western clothes, jeans and a jersey, like you do.

They say he has spent years in a Zen monastery, in the southern part of Kyoto. It’s a severe monastery, the rules are applied very strictly, more strictly than here. For instance, I believe they get up at 2 a.m. every day. He is supposed to have been a very diligent monk, rather overdoing things even, making extra rules for himself and all that. But he didn’t understand his koan and the master was hard on him; whenever he wanted to say something the master would pick up his bell and ring him out of the room. He was treated that way for years on end.

He was doing extra meditation, sleeping in the lotus position, trying everything he could think of, but the koan remained as mysterious as ever. I don’t know how long this situation lasted, six years, ten years maybe, but then he had enough. I don’t think he even said goodbye, he just left, in ordinary clothes, with a little money he had saved, or which had been sent to him from home.

Now you must realize that he had been a monk a long time and didn’t know anything about civilian life. He had never climbed the wall at night [i.e. sneaked out of the monastery as many did for less, umm, spiritual pursuits]. He was a real monk, sober, quiet, always in command of himself. And there he was, in a sunny street, in a busy city, thousands of people all about, all doing something, all going somewhere. He wandered about the city and found himself in the willow quarter, perhaps within an hour of leaving the monastery gate.

In the willow quarter there are always women standing in their doors, or pretending to be busy in their gardens. One of the women called him, but he was so innocent that he didn’t know what she wanted. He went to her and asked politely what he could do for her. She took him by the hand and led him into her little house. They say she was beautiful; who knows? Some of these women aren’t beautiful at all but they are attractive in a way, or they wouldn’t have any earnings.

She helped him undress – he must have understood then what was going on. She must have asked him for money and he must have given it to her. Then she took him to her bath, that’s the custom here. Your shoulders are massaged and you are dried with a clean towel and they talk to you. Slowly you become very excited and when she feels you are ready she takes you to the bedroom. He must have been very excited after so many years of abstaining.

At the moment he went into her he solved his koan. He had an enormous satori, one of those rare satoris which are described in our books, not a little understanding which can be deepened later but the lot at once, an explosion which tears you to pieces and you think the world has come to an end, that you can fill the emptiness of the universe in every possible sphere. When he left the woman he was a master.

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• story source: Bobo-roshi
• picture source: geisha+girl+with+umbrella.jpg 
• autumn‑geisha‑geisha.jpg 
• related (zendictive) story: 1000 marbles

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(I couldn’t begin to relay the emotional roller coaster of visiting my brother yesterday. I couldn’t begin to relay the list of problems he is having. I went by where they kept his car and got his stuff, the car looked like a crushed coke can. I was able to get all his stuff. When I got to the hospital, he was opening his eyes for moments and then going out again. When he saw me, he tried to sit up. He kept trying to talk but with tubes in his mouth, I couldn’t understand him. But he kept trying till finally I made out what he was trying to say….”Water!” I had him chuckle a couple times, calling him the million dollar man (they have him strung up with weights, wires and tubes.) But they’ll do surgery today, he is doing good enough to finally fix his hip and right arm. I told him… “Us Campbells can take an ass kicking,” he shook his head …’yes’… all in all I think he is pulling through, they worry now about phneumonia and fever. but all in all he is getting better.)

have a lovely day