tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87338811675281009372024-02-18T18:10:44.165-08:00Not Coming Not GoingNamo Tassa Bhagavato Agahato Sammasam Buddhassa.
Buddham Saranam Gacchami.
Dhammam Saranam Gacchami.
Sangham Saranam Gacchami.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-30995116693685735362017-06-30T04:21:00.003-07:002017-06-30T04:21:39.897-07:00Buddhist simile on cup<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 12pt 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Meditation is about
stilling the mind. Many meditators put all their effort to still their mind.
But they become frustrated after</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #666666; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="textexposedshow" style="color: #666666; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">many years of effort.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">A cup of juice is similar to our mind. When you
hold the cup of juice although you focus, you being mindful, you being very
skillful or put your all effort for many years still the juice in the cup will
not come to stillness.</span></div>
<span style="color: #666666; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">To make it still there is only one way; that is to put down the cup. When you
put it down and leave it there for a while the juice inside the cup will come
to a perfect stillness.</span></div>
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 12pt 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Similarly if you want to make your mind
perfectly still you have to stop holding it. You have to stop making it still.
You have to let it go, detach, and leave it alone then it will slowly become to
a perfect stillness because that is the nature of our mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Ajahn Brahm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-28477293604781416792015-12-31T07:38:00.001-08:002015-12-31T07:38:13.674-08:00Why Doing Nothing is the Key to Happiness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Source:
<a href="http://eusophi.com/why-doing-nothing-is-the-key-to-happiness/">here</a></span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Attention
and focus are hard to come by. Starbucks built a $13 billion business
because <strong>we need help paying attention</strong>. Psychiatrists
increasingly diagnose “adult attention deficit disorder” and prescribe Ritalin
for grown-ups who can’t focus or pay attention. But is coffee and
prescription “speed” the answer to our modern distraction?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Distracted
by email, iPhones, the ping of a new text message, bad news on television and
the stresses of work, of relationships and family, it is easy to be
overwhelmed, stressed and miss the extraordinary gift of being alive. Our
bodies’ break down under the onslaught of stress – insomnia, anxiety,
depression, and<em> all chronic disease is made worse by unremitting stress</em>.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Buddha was walking down the road shortly after he was enlightened and a
traveler saw his remarkable energy. He asked him if he was an angel, a
wizard, a magician, or some kind of god. “No”, the Buddha said, “I am
awake”.</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What
matters most in life is the quality of our experience, the ability to be awake
to what is real and true in our lives, for the difficult and the happy times,
to be awake to each person we touch, to our own experience, to the moment we
are in, to the simple, sweet, and alive gifts of a smile, a touch, a kind deed,
the breeze on our skin, or a firefly flickering in the early summer night.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But
that is harder than it sounds. Our <a href="http://eusophi.com/interview-with-tara-brach-the-monkey-mind/" target="_blank" title="Interview with Tara Brach: The Monkey Mind"><strong><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">monkey mind</span></strong></a>
gets in the way. In order to pay attention we need to be quiet, to be practiced
at stillness, to know the habits of our mind and be skilled at dancing with
them, not to be controlled or dominated by them. To witness the thoughts
and feelings we have without having them overwhelm, dominate, and control our
lives.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">My
way into medicine was through Buddhism. I majored in Buddhist studies at
Cornell. As a young man in college I was deeply interested in the mind,
in the nature of our consciousness, of the ways our thoughts and perceptions
control our lives and how we can work with them in a juicy, helpful way that
brings more love, kindness, compassion, and insight into every moment, rather
than darkness, suffering, struggle and pain.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Pain
is inevitable. Loss is inevitable. Death, illness, war, and disaster have
always been and will always be part of the human condition. Yet within
it, I wondered as a young man, was there a way to understand suffering in a
different light, to break the cycle of suffering.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
realized there was a way to be more awake, to see things as they are, to notice
life as it is and to savor it, to love it, to wake up with gratitude,
lightness, and celebration for the magic of life. It is always there and <strong>the
trick is simply to notice</strong>.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But
to notice requires a <strong>stillness of the mind</strong>. This is something
not quite so easy to achieve for most of us. Being awake takes
practice. Each of us can find our path to being awake. Ancient
traditions provide many avenues.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Belief
in any particular religion or philosophy is not necessary, just a desire to
show up and pay attention without judgment or criticism. To notice the ebb and
flow of our breath and our thoughts without holding on to them, like waves
washing over you on a summer day at the beach.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
is harder than it sounds, because it requires us to be patient with ourselves,
to love ourselves, even all the ugly, petty, small thoughts. It requires
us to create calm within the chaos through non-judgmental awareness. Most of us
have no clue how to do this.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When
I was 20 years old, I spent 10 days in a silent meditation retreat sleeping,
meditating, and eating. That was it. As the turbulent oceans of my
young mind settled each day, I began to feel more awake, more alive and happier
than I ever had before. The happiness was not connected to any external event
or person, but to the simple joy of being able to notice beauty and brilliance
in the people and in the nature that surrounded me.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Over
my life I have come in and out of practicing stillness, but whenever I return
to it, <strong>it feels like home</strong>. <em>There are a thousand ways
to meditate</em> – traditional mindfulness meditation is the simplest and most
accessible, but any form can work – yoga, nature, dance, breathing, and prayer.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
point of mediation, of doing nothing, is not an end in itself but a way to calm
the mind, to see the true nature of things, and reduce the impact of suffering
while increasing love, kindness, wisdom, fearlessness, and sympathy.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">From
that stillness life becomes richer, your actions more clear, your words more
direct and powerful, and your capacity to be fully engaged in life
enhanced. It is not a retreat from life, but a way to go fully into it
and cultivate your own power and happiness.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
benefits of meditation have been well proven by science. Mediation reduces
chronic pain, blood pressure, headaches, anxiety and depression.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
helps you lose weight, lowers cholesterol, increases sports performance, boosts
immune function, relieves insomnia, increases serotonin, improves creativity,
optimizes brain waves, helps in learning, focuses attention, increases productivity,
enhances memory, and more.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But
none of those reasons are the reasons I meditate or practice yoga (which for me
is meditation in motion). It is to be more awake to life, to myself, to
cultivate loving kindness and compassion toward myself, others, and to the
sordid human condition we find ourselves in.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
good news is that all you need is a few minutes and a place to sit and be quiet
(you can do this anywhere). Here is a simple instruction for mindfulness
mediation you can try yourself.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Mindfulness Meditation</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Instructions:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sit
in a comfortable position. Try to sit in the same place each day. Avoid
positions that you might fall asleep in.<br />
a. The back is long and supports itself.<br />
b. Shoulders are relaxed downward, the neck is long, and the chin is pointing
neither up nor down.<br />
c. The face is relaxed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Begin
to breathe (preferably through the nostrils). Feel the belly rise, the ribs
expand, and the slight movement in the collarbones and shoulders as the breath
moves upward. Feel the exhalation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Focus
on one aspect of the breath.<br />
a. The movement of air in and out of the nostrils.<br />
b. Or the lifting and falling of the belly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Watch
that one aspect of the breath.<br />
a. When the mind wanders, gently bring it back to the breath and the aspect you
have chosen to watch.<br />
b. Do this as many times as you need to.<br />
c. There is no such thing as a good or bad meditation. (Good and bad are
judgments, events in the mind – just note them and go back to the breathing.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Start
with 5–10 minutes and then increase the time until you can sit for 30 minutes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Mark
Hyman, MD</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<em><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Originally
published at <a href="http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/06/18/why-doing-nothing-is-the-key-to-happiness/#close" target="_blank">DrHyman.com</a>.</span></em><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-34794855921011212172015-10-22T05:11:00.004-07:002015-10-22T05:11:52.230-07:008 characteristics of the Educated<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Source: "Letter
from Anton Chekhov To His Brother Nikolay."</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Translated
by Constance Garnett:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">MOSCOW</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, 1886.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">…
You have often complained to me that people “don’t understand you”! Goethe and Newton did not complain
of that…. Only Christ complained of it, but He was speaking of His doctrine and
not of Himself…. People understand you perfectly well. And if you do not
understand yourself, it is not their fault.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
assure you as a brother and as a friend I understand you and feel for you with
all my heart. I know your good qualities as I know my five fingers; I value and
deeply respect them. If you like, to prove that I understand you, I can
enumerate those qualities. I think you are kind to the point of softness,
magnanimous, unselfish, ready to share your last farthing; you have no envy nor
hatred; you are simple-hearted, you pity men and beasts; you are trustful,
without spite or guile, and do not remember evil…. You have a gift from above
such as other people have not: you have talent. This talent places you above
millions of men, for on earth only one out of two millions is an artist. Your
talent sets you apart: if you were a toad or a tarantula, even then, people
would respect you, for to talent all things are forgiven.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">You
have only one failing, and the falseness of your position, and your unhappiness
and your catarrh of the bowels are all due to it. That is your utter lack of
culture. Forgive me, please, but veritas magis amicitiae…. You see, life has
its conditions. In order to feel comfortable among educated people, to be at
home and happy with them, one must be cultured to a certain extent. Talent has
brought you into such a circle, you belong to it, but … you are drawn away from
it, and you vacillate between cultured people and the lodgers vis-a-vis.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Cultured
people must, in my opinion, satisfy the following conditions:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">1.
They respect human personality, and therefore they are always kind, gentle,
polite, and ready to give in to others. They do not make a row because of a
hammer or a lost piece of india-rubber; if they live with anyone they do not
regard it as a favour and, going away, they do not say “nobody can live with
you.” They forgive noise and cold and dried-up meat and witticisms and the presence
of strangers in their homes.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">2.
They have sympathy not for beggars and cats alone. Their heart aches for what
the eye does not see…. They sit up at night in order to help P…., to pay for
brothers at the University, and to buy clothes for their mother.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">3.
They respect the property of others, and therefor pay their debts.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">4.
They are sincere, and dread lying like fire. They don’t lie even in small
things. A lie is insulting to the listener and puts him in a lower position in
the eyes of the speaker. They do not pose, they behave in the street as they do
at home, they do not show off before their humbler comrades. They are not given
to babbling and forcing their uninvited confidences on others. Out of respect
for other people’s ears they more often keep silent than talk.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">5.
They do not disparage themselves to rouse compassion. They do not play on the
strings of other people’s hearts so that they may sigh and make much of them.
They do not say “I am misunderstood,” or “I have become second-rate,” because
all this is striving after cheap effect, is vulgar, stale, false….</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">6.
They have no shallow vanity. They do not care for such false diamonds as
knowing celebrities, shaking hands with the drunken P., [Translator’s Note:
Probably Palmin, a minor poet.] listening to the raptures of a stray spectator
in a picture show, being renowned in the taverns…. If they do a pennyworth they
do not strut about as though they had done a hundred roubles’ worth, and do not
brag of having the entry where others are not admitted…. The truly talented
always keep in obscurity among the crowd, as far as possible from
advertisement…. Even Krylov has said that an empty barrel echoes more loudly
than a full one.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">7.
If they have a talent they respect it. They sacrifice to it rest, women, wine,
vanity…. They are proud of their talent…. Besides, they are fastidious.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">8.
They develop the aesthetic feeling in themselves. They cannot go to sleep in
their clothes, see cracks full of bugs on the walls, breathe bad air, walk on a
floor that has been spat upon, cook their meals over an oil stove. They seek as
far as possible to restrain and ennoble the sexual instinct…. What they want in
a woman is not a bed-fellow … They do not ask for the cleverness which shows
itself in continual lying. They want especially, if they are artists,
freshness, elegance, humanity, the capacity for motherhood…. They do not swill
vodka at all hours of the day and night, do not sniff at cupboards, for they
are not pigs and know they are not. They drink only when they are free, on
occasion…. For they want mens sana
in corpore sano.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And
so on. This is what cultured people are like. In order to be cultured and not
to stand below the level of your surroundings it is not enough to have read
“The Pickwick Papers” and learnt a monologue from “Faust.” …</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What
is needed is constant work, day and night, constant reading, study, will….
Every hour is precious for it…. Come to us, smash the vodka bottle, lie down
and read…. Turgenev, if you like, whom you have not read.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">You
must drop your vanity, you are not a child … you will soon be thirty. It is
time!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
expect you…. We all expect you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-26148316096514333852015-09-16T05:01:00.000-07:002015-09-16T05:01:58.819-07:00An amazing story relating 9-11<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="hascaption"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">From a flight attendant on Delta
Flight 15, written following 9-11:</span></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><img alt="" class="fbPhotoImage img" id="fbPhotoImage" src="https://scontent-sin1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11949458_10153014415155825_4589589137720192102_n.jpg?oh=8255c956fd902e0cb6d51170733303b3&oe=56995050" /> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span class="hascaption">On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5
hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="hascaption">All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go
to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had
that “All Business” look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed
message. It was from Delta’s main office in Atlanta and simply read, “All airways over
the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP
at the nearest airport. Advise your destination.”</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">No one said a word about what this could mean. We
knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The
captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, Newfoundland.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">He requested approval for a route change from the
Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately — no questions
asked. We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving
our request.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">While the flight crew prepared the airplane for
landing, another message arrived from Atlanta
telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came
in about the hijackings.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were
still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and
that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander, Newfoundland,
to have it checked out.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">We promised to give more information after landing
in Gander.
There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that’s nothing new! Forty
minutes later, we landed in Gander.
Local time at Gander
was 12:30 PM …. that’s 11:00 AM EST.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">There were already about 20 other airplanes on the
ground from all over the </span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">world that had taken this detour on their way to
the US.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the
following announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all
these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The
reality is that we are here for another reason.”</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew
about the situation in the US.
There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers
that Ground control in Gander
told us to stay put.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The Canadian Government was in charge of our
situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground
was allowed to come near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come
around periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world,
27 of which were US
commercial jets.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the
aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into
the World Trade
Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">People were trying to use their cell phones, but
were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada . Some
did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would
tell them that the lines to the U.S.
were either blocked or jammed.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us
that the World Trade Center
buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By
now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention
frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">We had only to look out the window at the 52 other
stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones in this
predicament.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">We had been told earlier that they would be
allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to
deplane would be 11 am the next morning.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned
themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to
spend the night on the airplane.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Gander</span><span class="textexposedshow"> had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and
lavatory servicing.And they were true to their word.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Fortunately, we had no medical situations to worry
about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took
REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident despite the
uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of
school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal
where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the
Red Cross.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">After that we (the crew) were separated from the
passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">We had no idea where our passengers were going. We
learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400
people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the
airplanes that were forced into Gander!</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">We were told to just relax at the hotel and we
would be contacted when the US airports opened again, but not to expect that
call for a while.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">We found out the total scope of the terror back
home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it
all started.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and
found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling
us the “plane people.” We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of
Gander and ended up having a pretty good time.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Two days later, we got that call and were taken
back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers
and found out what they had been doing for the past two days.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">What we found out was incredible…..</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Gander and all the surrounding communities (within
about a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls,
lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these
facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping
bags and pillows set up.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">ALL the high school students were required to
volunteer their time to take care of the “guests.”</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called
Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up in a high
school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Families were kept together. All the elderly
passengers were taken to private homes.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up
in a private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility.
There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the
crowd for the duration.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the
world were available to everyone once a day.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">During the day, passengers were offered “Excursion”
trips.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and
harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for
the guests.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Food was prepared by all the residents and brought
to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered
wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their
clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">In other words, every single need was met for those
stranded travelers.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Passengers were crying while telling us these
stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they
were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger
missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the
whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be
on and when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything
beautifully.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">It was absolutely incredible.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">When passengers came on board, it was like they had
been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories
of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a chartered
party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each
other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email
addresses.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">And then a very unusual thing happened.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">One of our passengers approached me and asked if he
could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But
this time was different. I said “of course” and handed him the mike. He picked
up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the
last few days.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">He reminded them of the hospitality they had
received at the hands of total strangers.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">He continued by saying that he would like to do
something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">“He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under
the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to
provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">He asked for donations of any amount from his
fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the
amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than
$14,000!</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">“The gentleman, a MD from Virginia , promised to
match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He
also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them
to donate as well.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">As I write this account, the trust fund is at more
than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in college education.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Pretty cool story, huh. It reminds us of how many
helpful people there are in the world. The ones who aren't helpful just get a
lot more press.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><i><span class="textexposedshow">Carson Boyd. </span></i><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-13416641245618488472015-05-20T06:45:00.002-07:002015-05-20T06:45:27.278-07:00LIVING WITH THE COBRA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Bodhinyāna</span></b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A Collection of Dhamma Talks by<br />
The Venerable Ajahn Chah<br />
<i>(Phra Bodhinyāna Thera) </i></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Translation from Thai into English <br />
by<br />
The Sangha, Bung Wai
Forest Monastery, Thailand</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
<hr align="center" size="2" style="width: 150.0pt;" width="200" />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">LIVING WITH THE COBRA</span></b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">(A
brief talk given as final instruction to an elderly Englishwoman who spent two
months under the guidance of Ajahn Chah at the end of 1978 and beginning of
1979.)</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
short talk is for the benefit of a <i>new </i>disciple who will soon be
returning to London.
May it serve to help you understand the Teaching that you have studied here at
Wat Pah Pong. Most simply, this is the practice to be free of suffering in the
cycle of birth and death.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
order to do this practice, remember to regard all the various activities of
mind, all those you like and all those you dislike, in the same way as you
would regard a cobra. The cobra is an extremely poisonous snake, poisonous
enough to cause death if it should bite us. And so, also, it is with our moods:
the moods that we like are poisonous, the moods that we dislike are also
poisonous. They prevent our minds from being free and hinder our understanding
of the Truth as it was taught by the Buddha.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Thus
it is necessary to try to maintain our mindfulness throughout the day and
night. Whatever you may be doing, be it standing, sitting, lying down, speaking
or whatever, you should do with mindfulness. When you are able to establish
this mindfulness, you'll find that there will arise clear comprehension
associated with it, and these two conditions will bring about wisdom. Thus
mindfulness, clear comprehension and wisdom will work together, and you'll be
like one who is <i>awake </i>both day and night.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">These
Teachings left us by the Buddha are not Teachings to be just listened to, or
simply absorbed on an intellectual level. They are Teachings that through
practice can be made to arise and known in our hearts. Wherever we go, whatever
we do, we should have these Teachings. And what we mean by "to have these
Teachings" or "to have the Truth", is that, whatever we do or
say, we do and say with wisdom. When we think and contemplate, we do so with
wisdom. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
say that one who has mindfulness and clear comprehension combined in this way
with wisdom, is one who is close to the Buddha. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When
you leave here, you should practise bringing everything back to your own mind.
Look at your mind with this mindfulness and clear comprehension and develop
this wisdom. With these three conditions there will arise a "letting
go". You'll know the constant arising and passing away of all phenomena.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">You
should know that that which is arising and passing away is only the activity of
mind. When something arises, it passes away and is followed by further arising
and passing away. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
the Way of Dhamma we call this arising and passing away "birth and
death"; and this is everything -- this is all there is! When suffering has
arisen, it passes away, and, when it has passed away, suffering arises again
[*]. There's just suffering arising and passing away. When you see this much,
you'll be able to know constantly this arising and passing away; and, when your
knowing is constant, you'll see that this is really all there is. Everything is
just birth and death. It's not as if there is anything which carries on.
There's just this arising and passing away as it is --that's all.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[*] Suffering in this context refers to the implicit
unsatisfactoriness of all compounded existence as distinct from suffering as
merely the opposite of happiness.</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
kind of seeing will give rise to a tranquil feeling of dispassion towards the world.
Such a feeling arises when we see that actually there is nothing worth wanting;
there is only arising and passing away, a being born followed by a dying. This
is when the mind arrives at "letting go", letting everything go
according to its own nature. Things arise and pass away in our mind, and we
know. When happiness arises, we know; when dissatisfaction arises, we know. And
this "knowing happiness" means that we don't identify with it as
being <i>ours .</i> And likewise with dissatisfaction and unhappiness, we don't
identify with them as being <i>ours .</i> When we no longer identify with and
cling to happiness and suffering, we are simply left with the natural way of
things.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So
we say that mental activity is like the deadly poisonous cobra. If we don't
interfere with a cobra, it simply goes its own way. Even though it may be
extremely poisonous, we are not affected by it; we don't go near it or take
hold of it, and it doesn't bite us. The cobra does what is natural for a cobra
to do. That's the way it is. If you are clever you'll leave it alone. And so
you let be that which is good. You also let be that which is not good -- let it
be according to its own nature. Let be your liking and your disliking, the same
way as you don't interfere with the cobra.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So,
one who is intelligent will have this kind of attitude towards the various
moods that arise in the mind. When goodness arises, we let it be good, but we
know also. We understand its nature. And, too, we let be the not-good, we let
it be according to its nature. We don't take hold of it because we don't want
anything. We don't want evil, neither do we want good. We want neither
heaviness nor lightness, happiness nor suffering. When, in this way, our
wanting is at an end, peace is firmly established.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When
we have this kind of peace established in our minds, we can depend on it. This
peace, we say, has arisen out of confusion. Confusion has ended. The Buddha
called the attainment of final Enlightenment an "extinguishing", in
the same way that fire is extinguished. We extinguish fire at the place at
which it appears. Wherever it is hot, that's where we can make it cool. And so
it is with Enlightenment. Nibb�na is found in Sams�ra [*]. Enlightenment and
delusion (Sams�ra) exist in the same place, just as do hot and cold. It's hot
where it was cold and cold where it was hot. When heat arises, the coolness
disappears, and when there is coolness, there's no more heat. In this way Nibb�na
and Sams�ra are the same.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[*] Sams�ra: lit. perpetual wandering, is a name by which is
designated the sea of life ever restlessly heaving up and down, the symbol of
this continuous process of ever again and again being born, growing old,
suffering and dying.</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
are told to put an end to Sams�ra, which means to stop the ever-turning cycle
of confusion. This putting an end to confusion is extinguishing the fire. When
external fire is extinguished there is coolness. When the internal fires of
sensual craving, aversion and delusion are put out, then this is <i>coolness </i>also<i>.</i></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
is the nature of Enlightenment; it's the extinguishing of fire, the cooling of
that which was hot. This is peace. This is the end of Sams�ra, the cycle of
birth and death. When you arrive at Enlightenment, this is how it is. It's an
ending of the ever-turning and ever-changing, an ending of greed, aversion and
delusion in our minds. We talk about it in terms of happiness because this is
how worldly people understand the <i>ideal </i>to be, but in reality it has
gone beyond. It is beyond both happiness and suffering. It's perfect peace.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">* * *</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So
as you go you should take this Teaching which I have given you and contemplate
it carefully. Your stay here hasn't been easy and I have had little opportunity
to give you instruction, but in this time you have been able to study the real
meaning of our practice. May this practice lead you to happiness; may it help
you grow in<b> </b>Truth. May you be freed from the suffering of birth and
death.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><i>Source <a href="http://thuvienhoasen.org/a18408/6-song-voi-ran-doc">here </a></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-59274795705301792422015-05-03T00:00:00.003-07:002015-05-03T00:00:22.938-07:0025 Quotes From Buddha That Will Change Your Life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h4 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1) “However many holy words you
read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on
upon them?”</span></h4>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2)
“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3)
“A jug fills drop by drop.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">4)
“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">5)
“To understand everything is to forgive everything”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">6)
“Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">7)
“Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them
and be influenced by them for good or ill.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">8)
“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must
walk the path.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">9)
“In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for
the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">10)
“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create
distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-2690" height="445" src="http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/the-buddha-preached-1024x597.jpg" width="603" /> </span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">11)
“Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">12)
“Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love.
This is an unalterable law.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">13) “There
has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">14)
“It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see once own faults.
One shows the faults of others like chaff winnowed in the wind, but one
conceals one’s own faults as a cunning gambler conceals his dice.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">15)
“I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">16)
“The mind is everything. What you think you become.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">17)
“Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good
deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through
the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of
virtue.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">18) “We
are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy
follows like a shadow that never leaves.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">19)
“Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">20)
“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least
we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get
sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-2691" height="381" src="http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/buddhaaaa-1024x542.jpg" width="568" /></div>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">21) “You
cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">22) “You
will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">23) “To
conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">24)
“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”</span></h3>
<h3 style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">25) “Have
compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some
suffer too much, others too little.”</span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Let’s
keep these words alive.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Source <a href="http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/25-quotes-from-buddha-that-will-change-your-life/">here</a></span></div>
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<h4>
1) “However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?”</h4>
<h3>
2) “The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”</h3>
<h3>
3) “A jug fills drop by drop.”</h3>
<h3>
4) “Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.”</h3>
<h3>
5) “To understand everything is to forgive everything”</h3>
<h3>
6) “Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.”</h3>
<h3>
7) “Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.”</h3>
<h3>
8) “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”</h3>
<h3>
9) “In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already
ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.”</h3>
<h3>
10) “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people
create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be
true.”</h3>
- See more at:
http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/25-quotes-from-buddha-that-will-change-your-life/#sthash.wq25RYZD.dpuf</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-31523528788628023372015-05-02T23:55:00.001-07:002015-05-02T23:55:33.373-07:008 Buddha Quotes That Will Put Your Heart At Ease<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“The way is not in the
sky. The way is in the heart.”</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Every
human being is the author of his own health or disease.”</span></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“No
one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk
the path.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> “In the sky, there is no distinction
of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then
believe them to be true.” <b>“There has to be evil so that good can prove its
purity above it.”</b></span></div>
<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 150%; margin: 27pt 0in 9pt; outline: 0px none; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“It is easy to see the faults of others, but
difficult to see once own faults. One shows the faults of others like
chaff winnowed in the wind, but one conceals one’s own faults as a cunning
gambler conceals his dice.”</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"></span></h2>
<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px none; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">“We
are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy
</span></span>follows like a shadow that never leaves.”</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"></span></span></h2>
<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 150%; margin: 27pt 0in 9pt; outline: 0px none; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">“Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on
others.”</span></span></h2>
<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 150%; margin: 27pt 0in 9pt; outline: 0px none; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #2b2b2b; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><i>Source <a href="http://www.livebuddhism.com/2015/05/8-buddha-quotes-that-will-put-your-soul.html">here</a></i></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"></span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-75710305893569533482015-04-26T08:31:00.002-07:002015-04-26T08:31:57.233-07:0012 Results of bad deeds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">One
day, Buddha disclosed to his bhikkus the 12 results of bad deeds he had done in
his previous births for which he had to suffer in this birth. According to
‘Pubba Kamma Pilothika apadaana’ they are as follows:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">1.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The
accusations the Buddha got for frequenting the female ascetic Sundaree’s
temple. ( In a previous birth, Buddha had accused the Pase Buddha named
Sarangu.)</span><span id="more-6391"></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">2.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The
scandal because of Chinchimaanawika who impersonated herself as a pregnant
woman(This is due to calling the disciple Nanada of the Buddha Sabbahingu, an
epicure, in one of Buddha’s births.)</span><span id="more-39"></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">3.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The
accusation, that Buddha raped and killed the female ascetic Sundaree and buried
her body near a flower altar was widely talked about for seven days. After
seven days, the truth came out. (This happened because of scolding Saint Bheema
in one of his previous births.)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">4.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Bikkhu
Devdath pushed a huge rock on the Buddha. (This is because in a previous birth,
Buddha killed his own brother with greed for wealth by pushing him down a
mountain and plunging a huge rock after him.)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">5.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Bikkhu
Devdath tried to kill Buddha by hiring archers.( This is because in a previous
birth, as a child, Buddha had thrown a stone at a Pase Buddha.)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">6.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
Intoxicated elephant named Nalagiri was sent to kill Buddha. (This is because
in a previous birth, Buddha as a mahout, led his elephant towards a Pase Buddha
who was walking nearby with the intention of killing him.)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">7.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Bhikku
Devdath, pushed a huge rock from the immense ‘Gijjakuta’ on Buddha,who was walking
at the foot of it. Because of Buddha’s power, another big rock sprang up and
stopped it. But, in the process, a small piece of rock hit Buddha’s toe and
injured it. The Doctor had to split the toe and remove the bad blood. (This is
because in a previous birth, Buddha had ordered a man to be killed, as king
Pruthuvishwara.)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">8.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Buddha
suffered from a constant headache.( This is because in a previous birth, Buddha
born into the fishing clan, laughed happily when he saw the large amount of
fish his kin had captured.)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">9.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
Buddha, who had disciples, followers and contributors in all three worlds had
to survive on barley since he didn’t get a grain of rice during his 12th ‘Vas’
season.( This is because in a previous birth, Buddha had accused Buddha named
‘Pussa’ for eating tasteful rice asking him to eat barley instead.)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">10.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
Buddha suffered from a constant spinal problem.(This is because in a previous
birth, as a wrestling giant, Buddha had broken the spine of his opponent.)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">11.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
Buddha suffered from acute diarrhea.( This is because in a previous birth, as a
doctor, Buddha had cured a noble; when he didn’t get his fee, Buddha had given
the noble an aperient which caused the noble to purge blood. The noble got
scared and paid him; in return, Buddha cured him again.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">12.</span></strong><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Prince
Siddhartha had to suffer immensely for six years before attaining Nirvana.(
This is because in a previous birth, As the layman Jothipala, had talked
against Kashyapa Buddha with a Brahmin named Ghatikara.)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><i>Source <a href="http://www.peaceful-traveler.com/12-results-of-bad-deeds/">here</a></i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
<a data-pin-config="beside" data-pin-href="//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?guid=xk5vHa4iqQmo-1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.peaceful-traveler.com%2F12-results-of-bad-deeds%2F&media=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.peaceful-traveler.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F04%2F36.jpg&description=12%20Results%20of%20bad%20deeds" data-pin-log="button_pinit" href="http://www.peaceful-traveler.com/" target="_blank" title="Facebook">
</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-73222745904256575342015-04-25T21:32:00.000-07:002015-04-25T21:32:02.063-07:00Message from The Gyalwang Karmapa Concerning the Recent Earthquake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Today, in the morning of the 25th of April, in Nepal, the land
where Lord Buddha was born, there occurred a devastating earthquake. Many
thousands of people have been killed or injured, and historic buildings and
private homes have been turned into ruins. As soon as I learned of this painful
and distressing situation, I made my deepest aspiration prayers and dedications
for all the people affected, and continue to do so. Especially at times when we
are faced with such a desperate situation, we cannot sit idle, unfeelingly. We
must join forces and carry the burden of sorrow together. It is important that
each one of us light the lamp of courage. Additionally, it is important that
each of the Karma Kagyu monasteries in Nepal, while looking after their
own pressing needs for immediate protection, also extend any and all aid and
protection they can to the public in their surrounding communities. From my own
side, I will make every effort to come personally in the near future to offer
my solace and support as well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">..................</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">DO
NOT GIVE MONEY TO FACEBOOK *Campaigns* by individuals with nice names such as
*Help Nepal*. . Most of that collected money ends up in the persons own pocket,
NOT in Nepal.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />
So, give money where it goes to the right place:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Nepal</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Red Cross</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Save
the Children - Nepal
Children's Emergency Relief Fund<br />
\<br />
The U.S.
Fund for UNICEF</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">MercyCorps
Nepal Earthquake Response fund</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">CARE
Emergency Relief</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Oxfam
Great Britain - Nepal
Earthquake Response</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Handicap
International</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Global
Giving - Nepal
Earthquake Relief Fund</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://www.mercycorps.org/donate/survivors-need-your-help-now">Earthquake survivors need you now</a> </span></div>
<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-12265620640470104752015-04-25T06:21:00.000-07:002015-04-25T06:21:12.748-07:00The Buddha in mud<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Once
there was a thief. One day he was found while he was breaking into a house. Off
he ran as fast as he could, until he reached a dam. He jumped to the bank of
the dam, fearful of the people in hot pursuit after him. Looking around, there
was no bush to hide in, so he just sat down on a clump of weeds full of mud.
Petrified with fear of being caught, he dared not move, just sat motionless
with his eyes closed. The pursuers were startled when they found a muddy man
sitting motionless. They asked themselves: “Who is this man?” One of them
thought this man looked like someone in meditation, so he told the others:
“He’s a monk in meditation!” Everybody became respectful, they bowed to him and
asked: “Master, we are sorry to bother you, but did you see a man running by
earlier? We are looking for a thief.” The thief reply: “Oh no... I did not
notice anything…” So they left, but came back after a while. The thief was
still sitting there, because he did not know where to go. Thinking this is a kind
of profound meditating practice, the pursuers were full of respect. They asked
him to become the monk of the village’s temple, which until now had been
without any residing monk. Being in such a situation, the thief had no other
choice than to accept it. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />
Although living in the temple, a thief was always a thief. He soon thought of
stealing the valuable things in the temple and take off when there was a
chance.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />
That morning, he went into the main shrine, removed all the valuable statues,
worshipping appliances etc... stuffed them into a bag and got ready to go.
Suddenly there came a crying believer, because a member of his family just
passed away last night. The believer asked him to go to his house to pray for
the dead. The thief hastily put down his bag, acting as though he was just
dusting and cleaning the appliances. He comforted the believer, took his name
on a piece of paper, then promised to go there to pray. Sighing disappointingly
for his foiled plan, he put back all the stolen things and set out to the
believer’s house. Before that, he was careful to bring along one of the prayer
book that he found in the shrine.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />
And so the days went by, he stayed in the temple waiting for the good time to
leave. But he never had the chance. Believers kept coming, asking questions, or
inviting him to their house for funeral prayers, and to be able to serve them
he had to read and learn the sutras. Soon he began to practice meditation,
chanting the Buddha’s name to relieve himself of his worries and stress. The old
thief who was forced to become a monk now had to learn to live the life of a
monk, and unexpectedly, this simple life gradually brought peace to him.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />
A year passed by. His daily schedule now was like the schedule of a real
practitioner. He worked all day, cleaning, growing the vegetables, practicing
meditation and chanting the sutras every morning and night. He partook in the
joy, the sadness of the peasants in the village, shared with them the products
that he grew by himself. Looking back at his previous life, he was horrified.
How can he think of stealing from these poor, hard working people! He was
ashamed of himself. From now on, he would make time to repent for his past
sins. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />
Henceforth, he was transformed from a thief to a real practitioner. All traces
of his past life were now erased. He became a new person, a person of goodness
and a spiritual support for the people of the village.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <i>(Collected)</i></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-81450086619281036602015-04-23T07:28:00.002-07:002015-04-23T07:28:33.481-07:0033 People Who Prove The World Isn’t Such A Broken Place After All <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1. This generous tipper:</span></span></b></h3>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></h3>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidApbQdGmXJps_dqhfGV617Ci293qIagZZNiON7QVj2MwLw2M8eG5eb_bVLtK96IC8VCkdFDHuvI09PqKUbWYvGoWJXpAQGnQQ0h_fXPmlp6zMegWcFKetGvo5tSRminAYSCubPDLyfAKB/s1600/1.jpg" /> </span></span></b></h3>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>2. This hero, who just did the right thing:</b><span><br /></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><br /></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<br /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdaJA5keL1FojV64XdrTj6JTk4f_XAWoPI8uteuY0xjIE6Q6j1aUgRDdoELrrelAOwd0fD5KQ-4u5xVuo4yPhSjR3hubgbpnrT6AgB7cY6HyONfk2OviLbDAPF_x9I4NA8LgxuaYNQAXen/s1600/2.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b> </b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>3. This stranger, whose pay-it-forward scheme might just
catch on:</b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b> </b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbuxISDAmOjDivlshaizNBYqnUelmB_Q3FRPojwEI19exCJIAOzZv-G5ApFKNPwyuvgBNEScH5zHlXbMhk0gvgX1KFqVW8R9Db5TIJjfPQtU9uuiR4vvZWo4ac_mp2VaRN3Mym8LvpzySX/s1600/3.jpg" /> </b><span></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b></b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b></b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>4. This grocery store employee, who knows a simple thing
like tying someone’s shoes can make their whole day:</b><span><br /></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><br /></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg72v5CgzwOQdW-WLyu5ncJiQm9-iOC8L-jqdADO268_8TC0X-aOepuhI-D88H8Nb3NfqC-f-pS3I7AiQDOLsPUqHnfjsMXSR2RzFLsXqo3jniRlFUzTtQ3U5GeKxxpmALqqZMt26ky9dcW/s1600/4.jpg" /></div>
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5. This pet-lover:</span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYqmRBAFs0PhTGmPXVGE4AvDf4hNJXjKFXkUGX16t5F3LYjKgcNVkFFhsjarHVuUi-qX9zmz9h3L3cFAKv7WpN6_K3C7mW73m2wE23CcHaXgYgPPYYpS-cxJwYqFHYVY9n-ERa8AjcPM4q/s1600/5.jpg" /> </span></span></h3>
<span><b> </b></span><div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>6. This team of paramedics, who didn’t just stop at saving
an the man’s life:</b><span><br /></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><br /></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6VjVEzlNnyQmxUzSF-BvbcoyPTgCVZ7O_Nd8031QIoONWlRFkraCTeSYH0arS6Pu3MJAyllMxsC2mzJFRNd92rshsZi5hngiRTQ0koGR1btcEZ6QOfw4w5JMi9tCqyRK1ACMziiLKsYyi/s1600/6.jpg" /></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>7. This exotic car forum, who banded together to help a
disabled kid live his dream… over, and over again:</b><span><b><br /></b></span></div>
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yC17MDUPBmcSKc8sKIDzvwB83LVtS8NNCSsW_850ryfN36CwNQEGtEcgs1p82lhCLYZFbavgfA-u9V4V4ov97ZATUwnBNcJRKPpNumJdsQaS5Q1MPgS-NYEk0FvO4688NlG7zD0PMNhb/s1600/7.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>8. This sports team, who let a kid with a congenital heart
defect live his dream</b>:<span></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><br /></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFPd4tqMKMLthB9YgLBIhS2eCZnq4ADMYAcJtzTt2Fk78kA2WMWi_Zthjr_AVO6ZhCN8w649xq-OBUrT6jJQjgFMj-0MnRkjENDuXDZtcx1-lfkVgvQvpVXTfEO_inYy-wWxXIVP71Ighf/s1600/8.jpg" /></div>
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span><div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>9. This animal lover, who knows the power of one good
night of sleep:<span><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><br /></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmrskIsH_kVcfDPwrkwPNKuAVquHjOJ92pkUjh0rCUwyg3cEI-xs2RkQ0j3_sc9dggWw3rVkF05C1ncTCDP6f_km3hUfONycIcB1DSBs_-f7kP1PNJoVmeC8WX_pkaLhuqnRS7M4P5iQt/s1600/9.jpg" /></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>10. This guy, who cleared his conscience after 13 years:</b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><span></span><span></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><span> </span></b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheRuPDNM4ugcfDG1IS9IQXGWZ402Br6sFWym-A84WXE3ci2YyZTbqnoBlFDfvIqkyLUV-vf81PBuQEHLxK7WBespuU8NIf6mFA47rvFXELG_hBJxlHCE_-aFg2s_9YJattmLFmeQ4H2jZJ/s1600/10.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>11. These folks, who just want to return an expensive
phone to its rightful owner:<span></span><span></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><span> </span></b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIB5yRc-UHFczYCCcbwYaTMuoPqrzL_Ulg1AJhSewE2dlvkmlwkMEZoUYPhJH6VtYlZCV0G0-HlUvalU9k1_rpVGe8RNiwNQjH0eoWHSySFgZVZ_ghZAAfRsVkJ885Pbsb9Mn6yEeInn1/s1600/11.jpg" /> </span></b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">12. This good samaritan:</span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz7i4agCzKjxe8I1EiL1g-Qhlwpt0Z2Ng79lxSmP5H7nUvAyVaevzGcMp6ocu4sS8_h1et3i3owGYwp57pvPe-BeCalfNGcjvJsvuqvqWxj-21yEzCs77er00CuHahxcB1W1cDAKPoaFzO/s1600/12.jpg" /> </span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>13. This animal hospital, who truly knows how significant
a pet can be to a person:</h3>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjycu4T9j2bAz2lljCwSwacpEYBFUfUOxQw4wpNaiOgfL-Ot0kKnVHbSAN_dfb0ufI5a8q2_YNCKM1bAHjTK4HmXmI-ltDYMPwjf2dP7XxgPURZANPUppOPZRaZVKWekwFTEitHAmaiYz65/s1600/13.jpg" /></div>
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span><h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">14. Dan:</span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipEq_AjKMaJiILzpTSggZLCLEi37rqM9I3laaLO3C6Gmtwojp-7Id2IVSjAn-oVdL99Wm4pZnnKjBb5Lnz5KjUT7IgaHK74kZZ5nAQ6qsoJMSNzCJt66wMtnzT66Kq0TyyUoH0eyMhdB06/s1600/14.jpg" /> </span></span></h3>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<br /><div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>15. This mailman, who knows the importance of getting
something other than junk mail every once in a while:</b><span><b></b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<br /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRczqxWyOy8IU9B9tpmbB7GC9HAugEtswZBmg_N_zzNlpG487Tt31eYL_kIF-FLyLNXqIUJkX-EIcSiOt89vOfSYepN4AeQZ4sy1RNKcUMhM8ozWNr5kHNl-vjvNKnzTh0cEsbCAXkEv1C/s1600/15.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><span><br /></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>16. And they say kids these days have no morals:</b><span><br /></span></div>
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsibBUDlXxYy75WYTn0vhaf9ihJvV_iwXYRB6Bp8T0NHCkwdSIlhd8O_EsAOoiO6Y-rytyUk-5yeH9muHbNaCnZG3EpfoxDDqvYV2-YB9oW1V0CChe8duEqJc2jU8J66nddNrALA8hq3ml/s1600/16.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>17. This loving launderer, who put off their load to make
sure a stranger’s was dry:</b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b> </b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwYB_EEEXymxRmxUbk3kEZBwYTZr76CdYTn_se0ZU9cy_Im0oblujfrDctm-NSotW9S6b-okEKqNnjTj5WbBIVFTz8Y0QLPkYGCRaoNuFs-_6xmgHux0DbJIEBHtPQoz5pIOElltlNgW4N/s1600/17.jpg" /> </b><span></span><span><b></b></span></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">18. This kind soul:</span></span></h3>
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxoQV4Jy3Cvk3_QKV71353JgjMlCnxvIh_3wkCjbxgH1DKmCkzyoeneOI3bjV-z7gYLGv0SKPmtiGMv7ndJT5Dr-2yecgEWzGorQ8oREMx4WrmeGiLhYqHy0yzGDJEXMI-yFi-YPK0nF7/s1600/18.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>19. This firefighter, who heroically rescued what was
clearly “more than just a pet”:</b><span></span><span><b></b></span></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0l4KRaPEzhCgdyPMJ-Rr-uWinAk6lwYGAoZfBoLLkuzC6RIk8j9_Nl1_BT342r6hHciYmVpjlg8spyA2WInaRlWsODHdZHVZ-B09pOPTpoNMA0pi73CWNNbw8w5zhI0hPC2Zf_5B89NiP/s1600/19.jpg" /> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><span> </span></b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>20. This lady, who unknowingly demonstrated that kindness
begets kindness:</b><span><br /></span></div>
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixjg3Pbv2K_9FYrgXTwhkAJhGhDvwgFG9nj6f1o10AC4p7UuBWv-j41Kb-f8Joj7hY4GTvpADWmQgs4oV5UVMEa4ePtRNqQV0F-uIKsNwYKjr0TlTspT_2213n3Ir1vW2fvzlA7x4SFSan/s1600/20.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>21. This guy, who gave a kid the world for a brief moment
in time:</b><span><br /></span></div>
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTQcDG5DWxdbuLzmiQ72SAd6U3op_JLr-2uDled4dGJdqRXXNiAc4EmFu-UeoiLF8jHjN0VTQgpS38JoHCztSZNtxtKWDV-lN0h_Qk0xdDF0T84aoifyKivJ5Xw-1yyHuYZM2E6eooZVq/s1600/21.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>22. This guy, who probably missed his train to help this
lady with her bags:</b><span><br /></span></div>
<span><b><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcnhwpzaWKMVDSY2utOrmyQDPYglOb68R2fyV_sf1l3ax2uZGNi2mnvYlS5_1ksEL3BQ4CuN9WeWrTzL_tRtGQzyHD26TGz7dLXviG5sCiIDELMzDhpC8fOioMfyUm2Uc0m0nIqJTEgF8k/s1600/22.jpg" /> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">23. This “citizen of the Earth”:</span></span></h3>
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNcqn8-nOWhCZjEeVSC4VsgiIc4e9-xvyvBqmwIMlkLWqrUMoLZW77tOFf_g-94PZzm8WRm6CLOstE-JsnpJACLgHR_vvBw3VdW4PtN9GF45MqRiLuBt3dJIoWVwZf0tcZj2FHs7kybYuW/s1600/23.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>24. This dry cleaner, who believes everyone should look
their best when trying to get a job:</b><span><b><br /></b></span></div>
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRnDYt8xlp7KNihn5dg-jRuqykR39xGpnGA216DZvH-nrMMmlpVEzxu3lZJ92x3o74ofsLaS_7Zk9eoiQLipJiHdhkuFlXAUDR9qEF5BtKf55olTJvoDLSjVQa65LwLI4Kr9TKHQ6Xj5Je/s1600/24.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>25. This team, who in a display of utter sportsmanship
helped an injured opponent score:</b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b> </b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiufpTT0Pdn5D2u9cu0fitXw1_X-T6aB3taBL4Iy5Fb785zjQ4Ep8LFhfio4QkXIQgT5M7h54rRr1_vjWIt8r6Ta5HklFPNb9azpCDii7xRaRaJxUBMqa1VETOJzvIBhj8KeCRV7RymKgKl/s1600/25.jpg" /> </b><span></span><span><b></b></span></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>26. This samaritan, who helped a stranger get where they
were going:</b><span></span><span><b></b></span></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6q42J3w4H4hJrXOCW3_LFVUFaCiYO6ZC7W7I-Z8HU0fvKGu5Gd9YRIB9QpoM-tgfUgKVwCs6SkGnlyI81jipsr7YhGZrbvDM7IFC_AOihXrh8RzMAYjWjWN6svRteZ7MdwgJ0up9-_T37/s1600/26.jpg" /> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<br />
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly;">
</h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">27. This crowd, who figured the fan in the wheelchair
deserved to see the show just as much as anyone else there:</span></span></h3>
<span></span></div>
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi05B6piYkPUY7xuiRNnWQ7KANyVa2UMdSki7Hz1PkFsi-Iam4twBQJrqpojojZttUc6veKjzFztEGhBIdsO1RrTiftora0vfTHpvECUC1DB_MpRCyJkgfblOBrLZnpzoM8yhbqyFjI5LpA/s1600/27.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>28.Rugby player Brian O’Driscoll, who visited his biggest
little fan in the hospital:</b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b></b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><span></span><span></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><span> </span></b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4mxVW0nWzrdHvbXE7-Mul93R-LyVgJJSoeRlx6HeXVyFqH_T2jUBiogGw1q-KLtotw93oGUTpX4_X3PgHrmjxK3pd-6Gpt50O1YjcFKKpbpXrb6caA-AXF9cCL9zxyChEUIq31LxWbKKk/s1600/28.jpg" /> </span></b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>29. This officer, who handcuffed himself to a suicidal woman
so she knew she wouldn’t go alone:</b><span><br /></span></div>
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1MPSYofBcFMHJEFv29d1eNVFUiRcVEWWSSHoR983_jly45Q1S9gKnXsqIWGamXmmIqRuO7NG_lXzkdsd6nYejQgrTs7rQ0QImkqGEzm4tN_JjYQzPqRDDAMnOOfF7e3CyHn1z8bl_wTn1/s1600/29.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b><span> </span></b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>30. This barber, who offers haircuts at the cost of one
hug each:</b><span><br /></span></div>
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF47r1I0UY4Fqt0NEp2dxFyL8rT2Ax7UCvw8vpa7qkMVNGQYdYTzBqOQvIVkAk0gZ3OZTwGwX95nWEj8kbVDM00qQJOc2b55QeFmH4Q157DQ7EZjv6VdLkThGR1lwXvFG98ZS0zuc5L_uW/s1600/30.jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2H16OfCwJycDZm4-LMjFHrzykWUZRqZ8jPvwohhr_QSOGPDchEWFSoHEuoU2X_F0qbaUYNnft82Q6LbDkzTL3r7gdDCxBvUJLY20QadnL3VFoCkHG5_AvIzCeao4TSiRmIxGOl87V2J5q/s1600/30+(2).jpg" /></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>31. This biker, who held up traffic to help an older lady
cross the street:</b></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span></span><span><b></b></span></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9-x04oPP7Mor6_pPPqVUvA7J0jCk7bZyNGicgyDNGfhPjhSxnvhan7cl3TUJiZp8453ZXDq5qmJXpRMOJkCet3H22dSiuADA19DbykjpIbzTd0ies2egLZoHChHILz7NTmk3zh4E-BUhC/s1600/31.jpg" /> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b> </b></span><div class="copy-paste-block">
<b>32. This guy, who saw a person in need and realized he
could help:</b><span><br /></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><br /></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMt4UJEesL-iBjNSjT0pOqs7lCwq5dnm3RD4ZyrXLNINZnjNr5ZUDED8xcWmtWuxEqOH53PYIc-0MfJUyBJr6o2LoZG5Yum7kJFcThVycBoC4RjviKcPIi_c4aZYO_uqJKnT8TuMQ-2icZ/s1600/32.jpg" /></div>
</div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><br /></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b></b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b></b></span></div>
<div class="copy-paste-block">
<span><b>See Source <a href="http://www.successfulflow.com/2015/04/33-people-who-prove-world-isnt-such.html">here</a></b></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></h3>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></h3>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-53905022641720547912015-04-19T23:09:00.002-07:002015-04-19T23:09:32.864-07:00What is the most impotant thing a child should learn?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A
young man went to seek an important position at a large printing company. He
passed the initial interview and was going to meet the director for the final
int<span class="textexposedshow">erview. The director saw his resume, it was
excellent. And asked, '</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">- Have you received a scholarship for school?' The
boy replied, " No '.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">-' It was your father who paid for your studies? '</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">-' Yes.'- He replied.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">-' Where does your father work? '</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">-' My father is a Blacksmith'</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The Director asked the young to show him his hands.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The young man showed a pair of hands soft and
perfect.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">-' Have you ever helped your parents at their job?
'</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">-' Never, my parents always wanted me to study and
read more books. Besides, he can do the job better than me.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The director said:</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">-' I have got a request: When you go home today, go
and wash the hands of your father and then come see me tomorrow morning.'</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
young felt his chance to get the job was high.<br />
When he returned to his house he asked his father if he would allow him to wash
their hands.<br />
His father felt strange, happy, but with mixed feelings and showed their hands
to his son. The young washed his hands, little by little. It was the first time
that he noticed his father's hands were wrinkled and they had so many scars.
Some bruises were so painful that his skin shuddered when he touched them.<br />
This was the first time that the young man recognized what it meant for this
pair of hands to work every day to be able to pay for his study. The bruises on
the hands were the price that he payed for their education, his school
activities and his future.<br />
After cleaning his father's hands the young man stood in silence and began to
tidy and clean up the workshop. That night, father and son talked for a long
time.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
next morning, the young man went to the office of the director.<br />
The Director noticed the tears in the eyes of the young when He asked him: -'
Can you tell me what you did and what you learned yesterday at your house?'</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
boy replied: -' I washed my father's hands and when I finished I stayed and
cleaned his workshop '<br />
-' Now I know what it is to appreciate and recognize that without my parents ,
I would not be who I am today . By helping my father I now realize how
difficult and hard it is to do something on my own. I have come to appreciate
the importance and the value in helping the family.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
director said, "This is what I look for in my people. I want to hire
someone who can appreciate the help of others , a person who knows the hardship
of others to do things, and a person who does not put money as his only goal in
life". ' You are hired '.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A
child that has been coddled, Protected and usually given him what he wants,
develops a mentality of " I have the right ' and will always put himself
first, ignoring the efforts of their parents. If we are this type of protective
parent are we really showing love or are we destroying our children?<br />
You can give your child a big house , good food , computer classes , watch on a
big screen TV . But when you're washing the floor or painting a wall , please
let him experience that too. <br />
After eating have them wash the dishes with their brothers and sisters. It is
not because you have no money to hire someone to do this it's because you want
to love them the right way . No matter how rich you are, you want them to
understand. One day your hair will have gray hair, like the father of this
young man.<br />
The most important thing is that your child learns to appreciate the effort and
to experience the difficulties and learn the ability to work with others to get
things done. "</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> (Collected)</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-70765015038691788632015-02-10T01:40:00.003-08:002015-02-10T01:40:37.280-08:00Go Beyond Words : See For Yourself<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
my own practice, I did not know or study much. I took the straightforward
teachi<span class="textexposedshow">ngs of Buddha gave and simply began to study
my own mind according to nature. When you practice, observe yourself. Then
gradually knowledge and vision will arise of themselves. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">If
you sit in meditation and want it to be this way or that, you had better stop
right there. Do not bring ideals or expectations to your practice. Take your
studies, your opinions, and store them away.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">You
must go beyond all words, all symbols, all plans for your practice. Then you
can see for yourself the truth, arising right here. If you do not turn inward,
you will never know reality. I took the first few years of formal Dharma text
study, when I had the opportunity, I went to hear various scholars and masters
teach, until such study became more of a hindrance than a help. I did not know
how to listen to their sermons because I had not looked within.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
great meditation masters spoke about the truth within oneself. Practicing, I
began to realize that it existed in my own mind as well. After a long time, I
realized that these teachers have really seen the truth and that if we follow
their path, we will encounter everything they have spoken about. Then we will
be able to say, “Yes, they were right. What else could there be? Just this.”
When I practiced diligently, realization unfolded like that.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">If
you are interested in Dharma, just give up, just let go. Merely thinking about
practice is like pouncing on the shadow and missing the substance. You need not
study much. If you follow the basics and practice accordingly, you will see the
Dharma for yourself. There must be more than merely hearing the words. Speak
just with yourself, observe your own mind. If you cut off his verbal, thinking
mind, you will have a true standard for judging. Otherwise, your understanding
will not penetrate deeply. Practice in this way and the rest will follow.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Ajahn Chah - A Still Forest Pool pp.10-11</span></i></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-66615540683922572022015-02-09T20:28:00.005-08:002015-02-09T20:28:55.395-08:00NO AJAHN CHAH - Reflections <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">KAMMA...</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">-
When those who do not understand the Dhamma act improperly, they look all
around to make sure no one is watching. But our<span class="textexposedshow">
kamma is always watching. We never really get away with watching.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">-
Good act bring good result, bad actions bring bad result. Don't expect the gods
to do thing for you, or the angels and guardian deities to protect you, or the
auspicious days to help you. These things aren't true. Don’t believe in them.
If you believe in them , you will suffer. You will always be waiting for the
right day, the right month, the right year, the angles or the guardian deities.
You'll only suffer that way. Look into your own actions and speech, into your
own kamma. Doing good, you inherit goodness, doing bad you inherit badness.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">-
Through right practice, you allow your old kamma to wear itself out. Knowing
how things arise and pass away, you can just be aware and let them run their
course. It is like having two trees: if you fertilize and water one and do not
take care of the other, there is no question which one will grow and which one
will die.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">-
Some of you have come from thousands of mile away, from Europe and America and
other far-off places, to listen to the Dhamma here at Nong Pah Pong monastery.
To think that you've come from so far and gone through so much trouble to get
here. Then we have these people who live just outside the wall of the monastery
but who have yet to enter through its gate. It make you appreciate good kamma
more, doesn't it?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">-
When you do something bad, there is nowhere you can go to hide. Even if others
don’t see you, you must see yourself. Even if you go into a deep hole, you'll
still find yourself there. There's no way you can commit bad actions and get
away with it. In the same way, why shouldn't you see your own purity? You see
it all - the peace, the agitation, the liberation, the peace, the bondage we
see all these for yourself.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">NO
AJAHN CHAH</span></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-50217740673067903582015-02-07T20:08:00.002-08:002015-02-07T20:08:27.070-08:00Is Buddhism Scientific?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Science
is knowledge which can be made into a system, which depends upon seeing and
testing facts and stating general natural laws. The core of Buddhism fit into
this definition, because the Four Noble truths (see below) can be tested and
proven by anyone in fact the Buddha himself asked his followers to test the
teaching rather than accept his word as true. Buddhism depends more on
understanding than faith.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What
did the Buddha Teach?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Buddha taught many things, but the basic concepts in Buddhism can be summed up
by the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eight fold Path.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What
is the First Noble Truth?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
first truth is that life is suffering i.e., life includes pain, getting old, disease,
and ultimately death. We also endure psychological suffering like loneliness
frustration, fear, embarrassment, disappointment and anger. This is an
irrefutable fact that cannot be denied. It is realistic rather than pessimistic
because pessimism is expecting things to be bad. lnstead, Buddhism explains how
suffering can be avoided and how we can be truly happy.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What
is the Second Noble Truth?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
second truth is that suffering is caused by craving and aversion. We will
suffer if we expect other people to conform to our expectation, if we want
others to like us, if we do not get something we want,etc. In other words,
getting what you want does not guarantee happiness. Rather than constantly
struggling to get what you want, try to modify your wanting. Wanting deprives
us of contentment and happiness. A lifetime of wanting and craving and
especially the craving to continue to exist, creates a powerful energy which
causes the individual to be born. So craving leads to physical suffering
because it causes us to be reborn.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What
is the Third Noble Truth?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
third truth is that suffering can be overcome and happiness can be attained;
that true happiness and contentment are possible. lf we give up useless craving
and learn to live each day at a time (not dwelling in the past or the imagined
future) then we can become happy and free. We then have more time and energy to
help others. This is Nirvana.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What
is the Fourth Noble Truth?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
fourth truth is that the Noble 8-fold Path is the path which leads to the end of
suffering.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What
is the Noble 8-Fold Path?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
summary, the Noble 8-fold Path is being moral (through what we say, do and our
livelihood), focusing the mind on being fully aware of our thoughts and
actions, and developing wisdom by understanding the Four Noble Truths and by
developing compassion for others.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">GOOD
QUESTION, GOOD ANSWER- Bhikkhu Shravasti Dhammika</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><img alt="" class="spotlight" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10389550_1391489194493794_2034199090676882865_n.jpg?oh=80e8096d98637b0f0a108cdc54f330f1&oe=555A83A5&__gda__=1432224412_6e55bf552ccff284fabe0dc2a70b9026" style="height: 667px; width: 460px;" /> </span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-45281222746095434152015-02-06T17:10:00.000-08:002015-02-06T17:11:18.130-08:00Get angry<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">People
get angry because they are hurting, they are not at ease. But if we are happy,
we can never get angry at someone else; it is only when we are depressed, <span class="textexposedshow">tired, frustrated, having a hard time; when we have got
some sickness in our hearts, that is when we can get angry at other people. So
when someone is angry at me I feel compassion and kindness towards that person,
because I realise that they are hurting.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
first time I went to see someone who was supposed to be enlightened, I thought,
"Crikey! I had better make sure I meditate before I get within ten miles
of him, because he is bound to be able to read my mind, and that would be so
embarrassing!" But an enlightened person is not going to be cruel and hurt
you. An enlightened person is going to accept you and put you at ease. That's a
wonderful feeling, isn't it: just to accept yourself. You can just relax, no
anger and irritation. There is that great understanding, great enlightenment,
that you are all right. What a lot of pain that would take away from human
beings' lives; what great freedom it would give the people to participate in
the world, to serve in this world, to love in this world, when at last they
realise that they are all right. They do not have to spend so much time getting
themselves right, changing themselves, always afraid of making mistakes. When
you are at ease with yourself you will be at ease with other people, no matter
who they are.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">-
Ajahn Brahm<br />
excerpted from On Making a Mistake</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><img alt="" class="spotlight" height="300" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10956221_1013216245359300_3651842398320614662_n.jpg?oh=4e7fa57a3c3e836b890a2ee0722e75b3&oe=5569BDDD&__gda__=1432913549_433921da3a493bc6fe95affb1995299f" style="height: 480px; width: 640px;" width="400" /> </span></i></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-29051957967025784632014-12-31T16:43:00.003-08:002014-12-31T16:43:48.798-08:00How poor we are.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">One
day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country
with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">They
spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a
very poor family.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">On
their return from their trip, the father asked his son, <br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"How was the trip?"</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">" It was great, Dad."</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"Did you see how poor people live?" the
father asked.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"Oh yeah," said the son.</span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"So, tell me, what did you learn from the
trip?" asked the father.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a
pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no
end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a
small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they
grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends
to protect them."</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
boy's father was speechless.<br />
Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-31250972928700207262014-12-29T21:00:00.001-08:002014-12-29T21:00:51.066-08:00"Whatever you are doing, give it everything you've got."<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="hascaption"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A young man from Sydney
told me that he had once met Ajahn Chah, in Thailand, and received the best
advice of his life.</span></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />
<br />
<span class="hascaption">Many young westerners interested in Buddhism had heard
of Ajahn Chah by the early 1980s. This young man decide to make the long
journey to Thailand,
for the sole reason of meeting the great monk and asking some questions.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="hascaption">It is a long journey. Having arrived in Bangkok,
eight h</span><span class="textexposedshow">ours from Sydney, he took the overnight train, ten
hours to Ubon. There he negotiated a taxi to take him to Wat Nong Pah Pong,
Ajahn Chah's monastery. Tired but excited, he finally reached Ajahn Chah's hut.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The famous teacher was sitting under his hut, as
usual, surrounded by a large crowd of monks and generals, poor farmers and rich
merchants, village women in rags and decorated ladies from Bangkok, all sitting side by side. There was
no discrimination under Ajahn Chah's hut.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The Australian sat down on the edge of the large
crowd. Two hours passed and Ajahn Chah hadn't even noticed him. There were too
many others ahead of him. Despondent, he got up and walked away.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">On the way through the monastery to the main gate,
he saw some monks sweeping leaves by the bell tower. It was another hour before
his taxi was due to meet him at the gate, so he too picked up a broom, thinking
to make some good karma.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Some thirty minutes later, while busy sweeping, he
felt some one putting their hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see,
shocked and delighted, that the hand belonged to Ajahn Chah, who stood smiling
before him. Ajahn Chah had seen the westerner, but had no chance to address
him. The great monk was now on his way out of the monastery to another
appointment, so he had paused in front of the young man from Sydney to give him a gift. Ajahn Chah said
something quickly in Thai, then walked off to his appointment.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">A translator monk told him," Ajahn Chah says
that if you are going to sweep, give it everything you've got." then the
translator left to join Ajahn Chah.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The young man thought about the brief teaching on
the long journey back to Australia.
He realized, of course, that Ajahn Chah was teaching him much more than how to
sweep leaves. The meaning became clear to him.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"Whatever you are doing, give it everything
you've got."</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">He told me back in Australia several years later that
this "advice for life" was worth hundred such journeys to distant
parts. It was now his creed, and it had brought him happiness and success. When
he was working, he'd give it everything he'd got. When he was resting, he'd
give it everything he'd got. When he was socializing, he'd give it everything
he'd got. It was a formula for success.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Oh, and when he was doing nothing, he'd give
nothing everything he'd got.</span><br />
<br />
<i><span class="textexposedshow">Ajahn Brahm</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Source <a href="https://www.facebook.com/253631344296/photos/a.10152963725329297.1073741831.253631344296/10152987400934297/?type=1&theater">here</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><img alt="" class="spotlight" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10425183_10152987400934297_2872487180610904938_n.jpg?oh=ae290106d76365801cc61808c309f919&oe=55299927&__gda__=1428767576_dc29e7e3eb1ced57993de31665961c6b" style="height: 340px; width: 582px;" /> </span></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-66518969689039858922014-11-10T04:23:00.004-08:002014-11-10T04:23:52.719-08:00Man Lives On Little Island He Built Out Of 150,000 Plastic Bottles <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Richard Sowa knows a thing or two about recycling. Sowa built himself <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2014/11/07/real-life-robinson-crusoe-makes-floating-home-out-of-150000-recycled-plastic-bottles-4939418/" target="_blank">a self-sustaining island</a> out of 150,000 plastic bottles. The island is off the coast of Cancun, Mexico and is totally buoyant.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sowa built the island, which he calls Joyxee Island, over a period of
six years. The island accommodates a three story home that is equipped
with a working toilet, solar panels for electricity, an Internet
connection, a hot tub and three showers.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Although he built two similar floating abodes in the past, both were
wrecked by hurricanes. Sowa also now has someone to share his island
paradise with as he recently found a romantic partner in a former model
named Jodi Bowlin.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The island can float and move around as Sowa sees fit. Technically,
Sowa never has to leave the island, but he still does on occasion. He
said,</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote>
My plan is to become self-sufficient. I am a vegetarian
and have many plants growing on the Island which I eat, but for more
variety I go by bicycle to the nearby local shop.</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It seems like this guy is really living the dream, and he’s doing it in a very green way.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Watch his video <a href="http://elitedaily.com/news/world/guy-lives-island-made-plastic-bottles/841939/">here</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_842233" style="text-align: justify; width: 610px;">
<img alt="ad_151095642" class="wp-image-842233 size-full zoom" data-lazy-backup="http://cdn29.elitedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ad_151095642.jpg" data-lazy-loaded="true" height="400" src="http://cdn29.elitedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ad_151095642.jpg" style="display: block;" width="600" /><div class="wp-caption-text">
Media Drum World</div>
</div>
<hr style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<img alt="ad_151095663" class="wp-image-842235 size-full zoom" data-lazy-backup="http://cdn29.elitedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ad_151095663.jpg" data-lazy-loaded="true" height="543" src="http://cdn29.elitedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ad_151095663.jpg" style="display: block;" width="600" /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-27737130577758416432014-11-03T18:25:00.001-08:002014-11-03T18:25:14.180-08:00The Last Message of the Buddha<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); line-height: 150%; margin: 3pt 0in 3.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #999999; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%; text-decoration: none;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/101914784376696038524" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;" title="author profile">Shanka Herath</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); line-height: 150%; margin: 3pt 0in 3.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Source <a href="http://www.wisethinks.com/2014/03/the-last-message-of-buddha.html">here</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">'When I am gone, my Teaching shall be your Master and Guide.' </span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Three months before
His passing away the Buddha addressed His disciples and
said: 'I have delivered sermons to you during these forty-five years. You
must learn them well and treasure them. You must practise them and teach them
to others. This will be of great use for the welfare of the living and for the
welfare of those who come after you'.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 36px;"><br /></span></div>
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">'My years are now
full ripe; the life span left is short. I will soon have to leave you. You must
be earnest. O monks, be mindful and of pure virtue! Whoever untiringly pursues
the Teaching, will go beyond the cycle of birth and death and will man an end
of Suffering.'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibpOTjkFnFLoubWSBEuqzVeZLaFhbyMLAuJ0K1FbXR8vjmBb-TFd9jPUjTrd3eDxK18WjbcoAb-Sc1IqR-K_mKfeZNqiVPAaSSiRvfEwMYre_YEgWEnNZJhQXFnELXmj01hXzAscuyVE0/s1600/Buddhas_life_b_027.jpg" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">When Ananda asked
the Buddha what would become of the Order after He pass away, the Buddha
replied, 'What does the Order expect of me, Ananda? I have preached the
Truth without any distinction; for in regard to the Truth, there is noclenched hand
in the Teachings of the Buddha</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'MS Mincho'; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">皞</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">. It may be, Ananda,
that to some among you, the thought will come 'The Master's words will
soon end; soon we will no longer have a master.' But do not think like
this, Ananda. When I am gone, my Teaching and the disciplinary code
shall be your Master.'</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
<!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(253, 253, 253); line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Buddha further
explained: 'If there is anyone who thinks, 'It is I who will lead the
brotherhood', or 'The Order is dependent on me, it is I who should give instructions',
the Buddha does not think that He should lead the order or that the Order is
dependent on Him. I have reached the end of my days. Just as a worn-out cart
can only be made to move with much additional care, so my body can be kept
going only with much additional care. Therefore, Ananda, be a lamp and refuge
unto yourselves. Look for no other refuge. Let the Truth be your lamp and your
refuge. Seek no refuge elsewhere.'</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the age of
eighty, on His birthday, He passed away without showing any worldly
supernatural powers. He showed the realnature of component things even in
His own life.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">When the Buddha
passed away into Nibbana, one of Hisdisciples remarked, 'All must
depart---all beings that have life must shed their compounded forms. Yes, even
a Master such as He, a peerless being, powerful in Wisdom and Enlightenment,
even He must pass away.'</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The parting words of
the Buddha:</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>'Appamadena
Sampadetha Vaya Dhamma Sankhara'.</b></span></div>
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<!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>'Work diligently.
Component things are impermanent.'</b></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b> </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #D8DFEA; color: #555555; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Source :</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <a href="http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/"><span style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">www.ic.sunysb.edu</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-4707504331752096152014-11-03T18:17:00.001-08:002014-11-03T18:17:04.339-08:00The Man Who Spit In Buddha’s Face<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #272727; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">(</span><a href="https://plus.google.com/101914784376696038524" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;" title="author profile"><span style="color: #272727; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Shanka Herath</span></a><span style="color: #272727; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #272727; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Source <a href="http://www.wisethinks.com/2014/10/the-man-who-spit-in-buddhas-face.html">here</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #272727; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Buddha was sitting under a tree talking to his disciples when a man came
and spat in his face. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">He wiped it off, and he asked the man, “What next? What do you want to say
next?” The man was a little puzzled because he himself never expected that
when you spit on somebody’s face, he will ask, “What next?” He had no such
experience in his past. He had insulted people and they had become angry and
they had reacted. Or if they werecowards and weaklings, they had smiled,
trying to bribe the man. But Buddha was like neither, he was not angry nor in
any way offended, nor in any way cowardly. But just matter-of-factly he said,
“What next?” There was no reaction on his part.</span></div>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAXzWVjoEvWTPgb0PNXGVfClvuEC6nyrKwpq6fV4QJIywicap_Eq1LeuPvDamzzE8ljw1anIObCcEM868TNGEsBKCQvMTTVDcJ-qYBkLaVGuBh6dIedxKMMhP74qoNGVzbjyrjMepZ6HA/s1600/fdh.jpg" /></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdfdfd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">But Buddha’s disciples became angry, and they
reacted. His closest disciple, Ananda, said, “This is too much. We cannot
tolerate it. He has to be punished for it, otherwise everybody
will start doing things like this!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 36px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Buddha said, “You keep silent. He has not
offended me, but you are offending me. He is new, a stranger. He must have
heard from people something about me, that this man is an atheist, a
dangerous man who is throwing people off their track, a
revolutionary, a corrupter. And he may have formed some idea, a notion of me.
He has not spit on me, he has spit on his notion. He has spit on his idea of me
because he does not know me at all, so how can he spit on me?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">“If you think on it deeply,” Buddha said,
“he has spit on his own mind. I am not part of it, and I can see that this poor
man must have something else to say because this is a way of saying something.
Spitting is a way of saying something. There are moments when you feel that
language is impotent: in deep love, in intense anger, in hate, in prayer. There
are intense moments when language is impotent. Then you have to do something.
When you are angry, intensely angry, you hit the person, you spit on him, you
are saying something. I can understand him. He must have something more to say,
that’s why I’m asking, “What next?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">The man was even more puzzled! And Buddha
said to hisdisciples, “I am more offended by you because you know me, and you
have lived for years with me, and still you react.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Puzzled, confused, the man returned home.
He could not sleep the whole night. When you see a Buddha, it is difficult,
impossible to sleep anymore the way you used to sleep before. Again and again
he was haunted by the experience. He could not explain it to himself, what had
happened. He was trembling all over, sweating and soaking the sheets. He had
never come across such a man; the Buddha had shattered his whole mind and his
whole pattern, his whole past.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">The next morning he went back. He threw
himself at Buddha’s feet. Buddha asked him again, “What next? This, too, is a
way of saying something that cannot be said in language. When you come and
touch my feet, you are saying something that cannot be said ordinarily, for
which all words are too narrow; it cannot be contained in them.” Buddha said,
“Look, Ananda, this man is again here, he is saying something. This man is a
man of deep emotions.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">The man looked at Buddha and said,
“Forgive me for what I did yesterday.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Buddha said, “Forgive? But I am not
the same man to whom you did it. The Ganges goes on flowing, it is
never the same Ganges again. Every man is a river. The man you spit upon is no
longer here. I look just like him, but I am not the same, much has happened in
these twenty-four hours! The river has flowed so much. So I cannot forgive you
because I have no grudge against you.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">“And you also are new. I can see you are
not the same man who came yesterday because that man was angry and he
spit, whereas you are bowing at my feet, touching my feet. How can you be
the same man? You are not the same man, so let us forget about it.
Those two people, the man who spit and the man on whom he spit, both
are no more. Come closer. Let us talk of something else.”</span></div>
</span>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Credit:</span><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fdfdfd; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #333333; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.wisdompills.com/2014/10/19/man-spit-buddhas-face/" target="_blank"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">wisdompills.com</span></span></span></a></span></div>
</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-49542633714255823612014-08-18T20:17:00.001-07:002014-08-18T20:51:21.519-07:00The Man Who Lives Without Money - Buddhist Things<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://buddhistthings.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-man-who-lives-without-money.html#.U_LBTf0F5Uh.blogger">The Man Who Lives Without Money - Buddhist Things</a></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Think you couldn’t live without money? Irishman Mark Boyle challenged this notion and here’s how he finds life with no financial income, bank balance, and no spending.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">“</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">If someone told me seven years ago, in my final year of a business and economics degree, that I’d now be living without money, I’d have probably choked on my microwaved ready meal.</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">” According to Boyle, the plan back then was to ‘get a good job’, make as much money as possible, and buy the stuff that would show society he was successful.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.4s ease-in-out; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: small; transition: all 0.4s ease-in-out;"></a><br style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: small;" /></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Like most individuals raised in a consumer-driven society, he never second guessed those goals. For a while he had a fantastic job managing a big organic food company and even had a yacht in the harbor. If it hadn’t have been for the chance purchase of a video called Gandhi, he’d still be pursuing the same life. “</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I’d still be doing it today. Instead, for the last fifteen months, I haven’t spent or received a single penny. Zilch</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">The change in life path came one evening on the yacht while philosophizing with a friend over a glass of Merlot. “</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Whilst I had been significantly influenced by Mahatma’s quote “be the change you want to see in the world</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”, I had no idea what that change was up until then.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">The two friends began talking about all the major issues in the world – environmental destruction, resource wars, factory farms, sweatshop labor – and wondered which of the issues they could best devote their time to. Mark didn’t feel he could really make any difference, however “</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">being two small drops in a highly polluted ocean</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">That evening, though, a revelation came through: “</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">These issues weren’t as unrelated as I had previously thought – they had a common root cause. I believe the fact that we no longer see the direct repercussions our purchases have on the people, environment, and animals they affect is the factor that unites these problems.</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Boyle believes that the degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that it now means most people are completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering embodied in the ‘stuff’ they buy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">It can be agreed that few people actually want to cause suffering to others; most just don’t have any idea that they directly are. The tool that has enabled this separation is money, especially in its globalized format.</span></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“If we grew our own food, we wouldn’t waste a third of it today</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">” is one of Mark’s examples as to why it’s important a reconnection with natural/source living is established. “If we made our own tables and chairs, we wouldn’t throw them out the moment we changed the interior décor. If we had to clean our own water, we probably wouldn’t shit in it”.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">The above arguments all honestly assess the undervalue most objects now have. With convenience at our fingertips, most don’t consider where their trash product or unwanted items go.</span></div>
</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Deciding to be the change, this then spurred Mark to fully dive into his new viewpoint and give up money, which he only planned on doing for a year. “</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I made a list of the basics I’d need to survive. I adore food, so it was at the top. There are four legs to the food-for-free table: foraging wild food, growing your own, bartering and using waste grub, of which there are far more</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”.</span></div>
</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">On his first day, he fed 150 people a three-course meal with waste and foraged food. For himself, however, he ate his own crops and waste only made up about 5% of his diet. “</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I cooked outside – rain or shine – on a rocket stove</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”.</span></div>
</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">The next concern was shelter. He found himself a caravan from Freecycle, parked it on an organic farm he volunteered with, and renovated it out to be off the electricity grid. I’d use wood I either coppiced or scavenged to heat my humble abode in a wood burner made from an old gas bottle, and I had a compost loo to make </span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">‘humanure’ for my veggies</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”. Up front and to the point, Boyle clearly understood the necessity of using every available resource to be most sustainable.</span></div>
</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">“</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I bathed in a river, and for toothpaste I used washed up cuttlefish bone with wild fennel seeds, an oddity for a vegan. For loo I’d relieve the local newsagent of its papers (Once I wiped my arse with a story about myself); it wasn’t double quilted but it quickly became normal</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”. For transportation, Mark used his bike and trailer, using the 55 km commute to the city as an alternative solution for the gym. Beeswax candles served as his lighting.</span></div>
</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Humorously inspiring to some, deluded and anti-capitalist to others, Mark had this to say about his radical lifestyle: “</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Many people label me as anti-capitalist. Whilst I do believe capitalism is fundamentally flawed, requiring infinite growth on a finite planet, I am not anti anything.</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">” More than anything, Boyle claims to be pro-nature, pro-community, and pro-happiness. How often is that a city dweller’s life philosophy?</span></div>
</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">“</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">And that’s the thing I don’t get – if all this consumerism and environmental destruction brought happiness, it would make some sense. But all the key indicators of unhappiness – depression, crime, mental illness, obesity, suicide and so on are on the increase.</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">” More money, it seems, does not equate to more happiness. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4c4a4a; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;">(See </span><a href="http://www.thehappymovie.com/" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.4s ease-in-out; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #34b6d1; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.4s ease-in-out;">Documentary: Happy</a><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4c4a4a; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;">)</span></div>
</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Another positive effect of Mark’s unique lifestyle is the joy he has created for himself. “</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Ironically, I have found this year to be the happiest of my life. I’ve more friends in my community than ever, I haven’t been ill since I began, and I’ve never been fitter. I’ve found that friendship, not money, is real security. That most western poverty is spiritual, and that independence is really interdependent.</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”</span></div>
</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Mark’s example certainly stands as inspiration for those seeking freedom from the fast-paced modern age; most alternative media sources would agree that the more one reconnects to nature, the better their mental, physical, and spiritual health is. However, could everyone live like this? According to Mark, no.</span></div>
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">“</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">It would be a catastrophe, we are too addicted to both it and cheap energy, and have managed to build an entire global infrastructure around the abundance of both.</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”</span></div>
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">The prospect of gradually transitioning to re-localized, small communities is a possibility, though. With greener energy sources and healthier communities being implemented at a growing rate, natural living is already a reality, but may be made much more mainstream in the future to come.</span></div>
</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">“</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">For over 90 percent of our time on the planet, a period when we lived much more ecologically, we lived without money. Now we are the only species to use it, probably because we are the species most out of touch with nature.</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”</span></div>
</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Asked what was missing from his old world of lucre and business, Mark replied “</span><i style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Stress. Traffic-jams. Bank statements. Utility bills. Oh yeah, and the odd pint of organic ale with my mates down at the local</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">”.</span></div>
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Georgia Serif'; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">It just goes to show, if you are passionate about anything, you can be that change you’d like to see in the world.</span></div>
</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-15856799618902582492014-05-11T00:30:00.002-07:002014-05-11T00:32:33.903-07:00The song of the child<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">There
is a tribe in Africa called the Himba tribe, where the birth date of a child is
counted not from when they were born, nor from when they are conceived but from
the day that the child was a thought in its mother’s mind. And when a woman
decides that she will have a child, she goes off and sits under a tree, by
herself, and she listens until she can hear the song of the child that wants to
come. And after she’s heard the song of this child, she comes back to the man
who will be the child’s father, and teaches it to him. And then, when they make
love to physically conceive the child, some of that time they sing the song of
the child, as a way to invite it.</span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And
then, when the mother is pregnant, the mother teaches that child’s song to the
midwives and the old women of the village, so that when the child is born, the
old women and the people around her sing the child’s song to welcome it. And
then, as the child grows up, the other villagers are taught the child’s song.
If the child falls, or hurts its knee, someone picks it up and sings its song
to it. Or perhaps the child does something wonderful, or goes through the rites
of puberty, then as a way of honoring this person, the people of the village
sing his or her song.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In the
African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the
child. If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or
aberrant social act, the individual is called to the center of the village and
the people in the community form a circle around them. Then they sing their
song to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment;
it is love and the remembrance of identity. When you recognize your own song,
you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And it
goes this way through their life. In marriage, the songs are sung, together.
And finally, when this child is lying in bed, ready to die, all the villagers
know his or her song, and they sing—for the last time—the song to that person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">You
may not have grown up in an African tribe that sings your song to you at
crucial life transitions, but life is always reminding you when you are in tune
with yourself and when you are not. When you feel good, what you are doing
matches your song, and when you feel awful, it doesn’t. In the end, we shall
all recognize our song and sing it well. You may feel a little warbly at the
moment, but so have all the great singers. Just keep singing and you’ll find
your way home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheMindUnleashed?fref=photo" style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #3b5998; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The Mind
Unleashed</span></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">
</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #3b5998; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.themindunleashed.org/" style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;" target="_blank">www.themindunleashed.org</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/1454844_634067489983733_964327769_n.jpg" /></div>
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-68705362200154896132014-05-06T04:23:00.000-07:002014-05-06T04:24:57.072-07:00Student Was Asked About “Hell” On An Exam. You Have To Read His Priceless Answer! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Since Hell receives no more souls, when you die, you must go to Heaven. No other choice. I am sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Read <a href="http://www.thinkinghumanity.com/2014/05/student-was-asked-about-hell-on-an-exam-you-have-to-read-his-priceless-answer.html">here</a></span><br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8733881167528100937.post-85636352675898702312014-04-28T05:08:00.001-07:002014-04-28T05:10:17.434-07:00If you just take one minute to read this, It will change the way you think…<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<img alt="two-man-story" src="http://i1.wp.com/www.trulybuddha.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/two-man-story.jpg?resize=300%2C185" /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;">Two men, both seriously
ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed
for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was
next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on
his back.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their
homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had
been on vacation.. Hospital window.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Every
afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass
the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the
window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where
his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and colour of
the world outside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water
while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst
flowers of every colour and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in
the distance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the
other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Although
the other man could not hear the band – he could see it in his mind’s eye as
the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days, weeks
and months passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their
baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died
peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to
take the body away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to
the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he
was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up
on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to
slowly turn to look out the window besides the bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
faced a blank wall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had
described such wonderful things outside this window.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">She
said, ‘Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Epilogue:</span></strong><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; outline: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There
is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.
Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you
want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t buy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 150%;"> Source: </span><span style="line-height: 36px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">http://www.trulybuddha.com/if-you-take-just-1-miniute-to-read-this-it-will-change-the-way-you-think/</span></span></div>
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