Language

              A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day. “In English,’’ he said. “A double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative.’’ 

              A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Yeah, right.”

Tao

At the Great Beginning there was “Non-Being.” This Non-Being was described as “emptiness.” And that “the Tao abides in ‘emptiness.’” By analogy, “to a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.” An amplification was given in the following passage: “Maintain the unity of your will. Do not listen with the mind but with the spirit (Ch’i). The function of the ear ends with hearing; that of the mind with symbols of ideas. But the spirit is an emptiness ready to receive all things.”

A Ch’an (Zen) term, descriptive of movement and space, expresses this state of receptivity as K’ai wu (open awareness), to apprehend in the deepest and widest sense. By “stilling the heart” or shedding the thoughts and emotions of personal life and become a tranquil sphere, an individual could reflect in his hear-mind or as a pool or a mirror, as the Taoist describe it, the power (ch’i) of the Tao, the harmony of Heaven and Earth. Hence the phrase “mirror-like wisdom.”

The stillness and tranquillity associated with emptiness of space and the Tao is also silent, adding to the mystery of the Tao and stressing the reserve and meditative habits necessary for one to be receptive and able to express the Tao. Silence and emptiness of space possess vast powers of suggestion, stimulating the imagination and sharpening the perception. Only through exercise of these highest faculties can the Tao be apprehended and expressed.

In stilling the heart an individual can become one with the elements of nature, the creative force of the Tao. This becoming ‘One’ is the true meaning of wholeness.

- George R. Parulski

Twenty Stumbling Blocks on the Path to Enlightenment

It is hard for a poor man to be generous. 

It is hard for a rich man to learn the way to enlightenment.

It is hard to seek enlightenment at the cost of self-sacrifice.

It is hard to see the Buddha-world in the present world.

It is hard to hear the Buddha’s teaching in the turmoil of this world.

It is hard to keep the mind pure against the instincts of the body.

It is hard for a strong man not to use his strength to gratify his desire.

It is hard not to get angry when one is insulted.

It is hard not to desire that which is beautiful and attractive.

It is hard to remain innocent when tempted by sudden circumstances.

It is hard to apply oneself to study.

It is hard not to look down on a beginner.

If successful, it is hard to keep humble.

It is hard to get a good friend.

It is hard to endure discipline to make oneself a faithful practicing Buddhist.

It is hard not to be disturbed and upset by the external conditions surrounding us.

It is hard to teach others by being mindful of nature.

It is hard to attain a peaceful mind. 

It is hard not to get into arguments about religion.

It is hard to find and practice a good method.

- Author Unknown 

Aloofness

Seek no intimacy with the beloved, and never with the ‘unbeloved’. Not seeing the beloved, and the sight of the ‘unbeloved’, are both painful. When parted from those whom we love, we feel a sense of personal loss. When forced to associate with those whom we hate, we feel a personal irritation. Both feelings are painful.

Intimate association with the beloved and the ‘unbeloved’ are both potentially painful. Aloofness on the other hand, tends to lessen the intensity of such emotions and the pain they can engender. Such is the teaching of the Buddha, clear and uncompromising. 

There may be those who will call this teaching cold and inhuman. They may say, “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

They are at liberty to love and lose as many times as they please, in this life and in future lives, until they realize that they are making fools of themselves. There may be others who pride themselves on being good haters. They too are free to go their own road until repeated suffering teaches them that the hater harms himself more than he harms the object of his hate.

There are a few people, extremely few, to whom the teaching of aloofness has a strong appeal. They are the mature ones, who have had their fill of loving and hating. They are beginning to feel instinctively that freedom lies in letting go. It is to such people really that the Buddha spoke. The rest merely happened to be present, and to hear with their ears but not with their hearts.

Aloofness is the tree of wisdom grows and thrives, bearing at last the fruit of Insight.

The world we live in is built upon the very notion of self which the Buddha sought to eradicate. All its activities and all its vested interests are bound up with this basic idea. Any departure from the accepted standards of conduct will inevitably be branded as anti-social. Aloofness is such a departure, and is bound to be resented by those who love the world and its ways.

- Author Unknown 

The Key To Happiness

Everyone is seeking happiness. Of all the needs of the human race, nothing seems to be stronger than the pursuit of happiness. All man sought happiness as a constant and ultimate goal so that the unpleasant and painful experience could possibly be avoided.

Life is insecure and threatened at all times. Meeting of hated ones and separation from loved ones, loneliness and emptiness, guilty consciousness and inferiority complex, and finally the thrust into the jaws of death – all these make us feel that this life is full of misery and suffering, and we want to possibly avoid or forget such facts of life.

To guard the mind from actions of lust, hate and delusion and train it to perform actions freed from lust, hate and delusion is the way to true happiness in the dispensation of the Buddha.

Control of the mind is the key to happiness. It is the king of virtues and the force behind all true achievement. It is owing to lack of control that various conflicts arise in man’s mind. If he is to control them he must learn not to give free rein to his longings and inclinations and should try to live self-governed, pure and calm.

Calmness is not weakness. A calm attitude at all times shows a man of culture. It is not too hard for a man to be calm when things are favourable, but to be composed when things are wrong is hard indeed, and it is this difficult quality that is worth achieving; for by such calm and control he builds up strength of character.

A virtuous and a noble character built on lofty principles is the man’s highest possession that brings him true happiness in a changing world. Everything that we depend on to make us happy, the law of impermanence will lay its cruel hands on and destroy the happiness expected through them.

Metta restores one to peace, happiness, calm and equanimity. The only way of disarming those who wish us evil is to wish them good. As light dispels darkness, the good forces of good will vanquish the forces of ill-will. This is a psychological truth.

One should never depend on others for one’s happiness. He who expects to secure satisfaction in life from others is worse than the beggar who kneels and cries for his daily bread.

- Author Unknown 

Live A Life That Matters

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you colleted, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owned. Your grudges, resentments, frustration, and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seem so important will fade away. It won’t matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you live, at the end. It won’t matter whether you are beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin colour will be irrelevant.

So, what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured? 

What will matter is not, what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave. What will matter is not your success, but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence, but your character. What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you are gone. What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remembered by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters does not happen by accident. It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice. Choose to live a life that matters – now!

- Author Unknown

Humorous Signs

On the trucks of a local plumbing company in: 

Don’t sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.

On a fence: 

Salesmen welcome! Dog food is expensive.

At the electric company: 

We would be de-lighted if you send in your bill. However, if you don’t, you will be.

Outside a photographer’s studio:

Out to lunch; if not back by five, out for dinner also.

On motorway garage:

Please do not smoke near our petrol pumps. Your life may not be worth much but our petrol is.

At a farm gate:

Beware! I shoot every tenth trespasser and the ninth one has just left.

Notice in a field:

The farmer allows walkers to cross the field for free, but the bull charges.

On an electrician’s truck: 

Let us remove your shorts.

Sign On A Famous Beauty Parlor Window:

Don't Whistle At The Girls Going Out From Here. She May Be Your Grandmother!

Sign At A Barber's Saloon:

We Need Your Heads To Run Our Business.

Advertisement In A Long Island Shop:

Guitar, for sale ... Cheap ... no strings attached.

Ad In Hospital Waiting Room:

Smoking Helps You Lose Weight ... One Lung At A Time!

Sign In A Bar:

'Those Of You Who Are Drinking To Forget, Please Pay In Advance.'

Sign In Driving School:

If Your Wife Wants To Learn To Drive, Don't Stand In Her Way.

A Traffic Slogan:

Don't Let Your Kids Drive If They are Not Old Enough Or Else They Will Never Be.

Natural Wonders

The classical natural wonders are huge and hard to miss - vast canyons, giant mountains and the like Many of the most fantastic natural phenomena, however, are also least easy to spot. Some are incredibly rare while others are located in hard-to-reach parts of the planet. From moving rocks to mammatus clouds and red tides to fire rainbows, here are seven of the most spectacular phenomenal wonders of the natural world. 

1) Sailing Stones

The mysterious moving stones of the packed-mud desert of Death Valley have been a centre of scientific controversy for decades. Rocks weighing up to hundreds of pounds have been known to move up to hundreds of yards at a time. Some scientists have proposed that a combination of strong winds and surface ice account for these movements. However, this theory does not explain evidence of different rocks starting side by side and moving at different rates and in disparate directions. Moreover, the physics calculations do not fully support this theory as wind speeds of hundreds of miles per hour would be needed to move some of the stones. 

2) Columnar Basalt

When a thick lava flow cools it contracts vertically but cracks perpendicular to its directional flow with remarkable geometric regularity - in most cases forming a regular grid of remarkable hexagonal extrusions that almost appear to be made by man. One of the most famous such examples is the Giant's Causeway on the coast of Ireland (shown above) though the largest and most widely recognized would be Devil's Tower in Wyoming .. Basalt also forms different but equally fascinating ways when eruptions are exposed to air or water. 

3) Blue Holes

Blue holes are giant and sudden drops in underwater elevation that get their name from the dark and foreboding blue tone they exhibit when viewed from above in relationship to surrounding waters. They can be hundreds of feet deep and while divers are able to explore some of them they are largely devoid of oxygen that would support sea life due to poor water circulation - leaving them eerily empty. Some blue holes, however, contain ancient fossil remains that have been discovered, preserved in their depths. 

4) Red Tides

Red tides are also known as algal blooms - sudden influxes of massive amounts of coloured single-cell algae that can convert entire areas of an ocean or beach into a blood red colour. While some of these can be relatively harmless, others can be harbingers of deadly toxins that cause the deaths of fish, birds and marine mammals. In some cases, even humans have been harmed by red tides though no human exposure are known to have been fatal. While they can be fatal, the constituent phytoplankton in ride tides are not harmful in small numbers. 

5) Ice Circles

While many see these apparently perfect ice circles as worthy of conspiracy theorizing, scientists generally accept that they are formed by eddies in the water that spin a sizable piece of ice in a circular motion. As a result of this rotation, other pieces of ice and flotsam wear relatively evenly at the edges of the ice until it slowly forms into an essentially ideal circle. Ice circles have been seen with diameters of over 500 feet and can also at times be found in clusters and groups at different sizes as shown above. 

6) Mammatus Clouds

True to their ominous appearance, mammatus clouds are often harbingers of a coming storm or other extreme weather system. Typically composed primarily of ice, they can extend for hundreds of miles in each direction and individual formations can remain visibly static for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. While they may appear foreboding they are merely the messengers - appearing around, before or even after severe weather. 

7) Fire Rainbows

A circumhorizontal fire rainbow arc occurs at a rare confluence of right time and right place for the sun and certain clouds. Crystals within the clouds refract light into the various visible waves of the spectrum but only if they are arrayed correctly relative to the ground below. Due to the rarity with which all of these events happen in conjunction with one another, there are relatively few remarkable photos of this phenomena.

Where Do We Learn To Solve Our Sorrows?

Although frustration and sorrow are basic to human life, there is no school, college or university in the country which teaches us how to face problems.

It was Buddha who, so intimately concerned about human suffering, he renounced everything to seek a cure to these universal problems. He was concerned about problems facing you and me – our frustrations, our sufferings and our feelings of hopelessness.

In his enlightenment, the Buddha found that man suffers because of his wrong views. Being ignorant of the nature of things, he gets infatuated with them – his life, his ideas, his family, his property, his pride. Only after developing wisdom to see and experience the truth of all things will he be able to put an end to suffering.

The Buddha realized that the phenomena rise and fall away immediately. From the largest to the smallest, all are in the state of flux. On a clear night we see millions of twinkling stars. What we do not see are the clouds of gas coalescing into stars and galaxies, the myriad stars and planets in various stages of evolving and decaying, the planets circuiting in their solar systems. The smallest of things, the atom, is in constant flux with the electrons orbiting around its nucleus.

Our physical body replaces its old tissues with new cells. Our thoughts, impressions, perceptions, experiences, wants and desires are changing day-by-day and moment-by-moment. Toy guns and dolls which once made us happy are no longer satisfactory now. Our happiness is short lived. If we emerge top in an examination, the rejoicing will last at the most for a few days. Such happiness evaporates like the early mist in the morning sun.

Because of wrong views, man clings and desires for pleasurable things, and avoids unpleasant things. Things which please the senses – fragrant smells, beautiful sights, pleasant sensations, delicious tastes, soothing sounds – he pursues for more. Unpleasant things are avoided. He dislikes people who hurt his ego and turns away from bores. He pursues someone who has captivated him and he tries to possess everything pleasing.

Man then builds his world on concepts which he calls “I”, and “Me” and “Mine”. He will say, “These are my wealth, my property, my children, my youth and beauty, my knowledge.” “Look here,” he shouts, “You are hurting my feelings. Don’t you know who I am?” He clings to things and tries to own them.

Does he realize that in reality none of these things belongs to him? No, when he dies, all his wealth and property pass on to others. There is nothing he can bring beyond the grave – not even his own body.

- Author Unknown 

The Four Sublime States

LOVE ( Metta )

Love, without desire to possess, knowing well that in the ultimate sense there is no possession and no possessor – this is highest love.

Love, without speaking and thinking of “I”, knowing well that this so-called “I” is a mere delusion.

Love, without selecting and excluding; knowing well that to do so means to create Love’s own contrasts: dislike, aversion, and hatred.

Love, embracing all beings: small and great, far and near, be it on earth, in the water, or in the air.

Love, that is a sublime nobility of heart and intellect which knows, understands and is ready to help.

Love, embracing impartially all sentient beings, and not only those who are useful, pleasing, or amusing to us.

Love, embracing all beings, be they noble minded or low-minded, good or evil. The noble and the good are embraced because Love is flowing to them spontaneously. The low and evil-minded are included because they are those who are most in need of Love. In many of them the seed of goodness may have died merely because warmth was lacking for its growth, because it perished from coldness in a loveless world.

Love, embracing all beings, knowing well that we all are fellow wayfarers through this round of existence – that we all are overcome by the same Law of Suffering.

Love, but not the sensuous fire that burns, scorches, and tortures; that inflicts more wounds than it cures flaring up now, at the next moment being extinguished, leaving behind more coldness and loneliness than there was felt before.

Rather Love that lies like a soft but firm hand on the ailing beings, ever unchanged in its sympathy, without wavering, unconcerned with any response it meets. Love that is comforting coolness to those who burn with the fire of suffering and passion; that is life-spending warmth to those abandoned in the cold desert of loneliness; to those who are shivering in the frost of a loveless world; to those whose hearts have become as if empty and dry by the repeated calls for help, by deepest despair.

Love, that is strength and gives strength, this is highest Love.

Love, which by the Enlightened One was named “The Liberation of the Heart”, “The most sublime beauty”, this is the highest Love.

And what is the highest manifestation of Love?

To show to the world the Path leading to the End of Suffering, the Path pointed out, trodden, and realized to perfection by Him, the Exalted One, the Buddha.

COMPASSION ( Karuna )

The world suffers. But most of men have their eyes and ears closed. They do not see the unbroken stream of tears flowing through life; they do not hear the cry of distress continually pervading the world. Their own little grief or joy bars their sight, deafens their ears. They do not realize that only release from selfish craving will effect their own freedom from suffering. 

It is Compassion that removes the heavy bar and opens the door to Freedom. Compassion takes away from it the inert, weighing, paralysing heaviness, gives wings to those who cling to the lowlands of self.

Through Compassion the fact of Suffering remains vividly present to our mind, even at times when personally we are free from it. It gives us rich experience of Suffering, thus strengthening us to meet it prepared, when it befalls us.

Compassion reconciles us to our own destiny by showing us the life of others, often much harder than ours.

Behold the endless caravan of beings, men and beasts burdened with sorrow and pain! The burden of every one of them, we also have carried it in bygone times during the unfathomable sequence of repeated births. And this misery may well be our own destiny again! 

Whoso himself is without Compassion now, will one day cry for it. If sympathy with others is lacking, it will have to be acquired through a long and painful experience of one’s own. Thus is the Great Law of Life. Knowing this keep guard over yourself!

Beings, sunk in ignorance, lost in delusion, hasten from one state of suffering to another, not knowing the real cause, not knowing the escape from it. This insight into the general Law of Suffering is the real foundation of our Compassion, not any isolated fact of suffering.

Hence our Compassion will also include those who at the moment may be happy, but act with an evil and deluded mind. In their present deeds we shall foresee their future state of distress, and Compassion will arise.

The Compassion of the wise does not render him a victim of suffering. His thoughts, words, and deeds are full of pity. But his heart does not waver, unchanged it remains, serene and firm. How else should he be able to help?

May such Compassion arise in our hearts! Compassion that is a sublime nobility of heart and intellect which knows, understands and is ready to help.

Compassion that is strength and gives strength: this is the highest Compassion. 

And what is the highest manifestation of Compassion?

To show to the world the Path leading to the End of Suffering, the Path pointed out, trodden and realized to perfection by Him, the Exalted One, the Buddha.

Sympathetic Joy ( Mudita )

Small, indeed, is the share of happiness and joy allotted to beings! Whenever that little of happiness comes to beings, then you may rejoice with them that, at least, one ray of joy has pierced through he darkness of their life, and dispelled the grey and gloomy mist that enwraps their heart.

Your life will gain in joy by sharing the happiness of others as if it were yours. Did you never observe how in moments of happiness men’s features change and become bright with joy? Did you never notice how joy rouses men to noble aspirations and deeds, exceeding their normal capacity? Did not such experience fill your own heart with joyful bliss? It is in your power to increase such experience of Sympathetic Joy, by producing happiness in others, by bringing them joy and solace.

Life, though being full of woe holds also sources of happiness and joy, unknown to most. Let us teach men to seek and to find real joy within themselves and to rejoice with the joy of others! Let us teach them to unfold their joy to ever more sublime heights!

Noble and sublime joy is not foreign to the Teaching of the Enlightened One. The Dharma leads from step to step to an ever purer and loftier happiness.

Noble and sublime joy is a helper on the Path to the Extinction of Suffering. Not he who is depressed by grief, but one possessed of joy may find that serene calmness leading to a contemplative state of mind. And only a mind serene and collected is able to gain the liberating Wisdom.

The more sublime and nobler the joy of others is, the more justified will be our own Sympathetic Joy. A cause for our joy with others is their noble life securing them happiness here and in lives hereafter. A still nobler cause for our Joy with others is their faith in the Dharma, their understanding of the Dharma, their following the Dharma. Let us give them the help of the Dharma! Let us strive to become more and more able ourselves of rendering such help!

Sympathetic Joy, meaning a sublime nobility of intellect which knows, understands, and is ready to help!

Sympathetic Joy that is strength and gives strength: this is the highest joy.

And what is the highest manifestation of Sympathetic Joy?

To show to the world the Path leading to the End of Suffering, the Path pointed out, trodden, and realized to perfection by Him, the Exalted One, the Buddha.

Equanimity (Upekkha)

Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind, rooted in Insight.

Looking around us into the world and within us into our own heart, we see clearly how difficult it is to attain balance of mind and to maintain it.

Looking into life we notice its changeful nature continually moving between contrasts. We notice rise and fall, success and failure, loss and gain; we meet honour and blame and we feel how our heart responds to all that with happiness and sorrow, delight and despair, disappointment and satisfaction, hope and fear. These waves of emotion carry us up, and fling us down; and no sooner we find some rest, than we are in the power of a new wave again. How can we expect to get a footing on the crest of the waves? How shall we erect the building of our life in the midst of this ever-restless ocean of existence, if not on the Island of Equanimity?

A world where that little share of happiness allotted to beings is mostly secured after many disappointments, failures, and defeats; a world where only the courage to start anew, again and again, promises success; a world where scanty joy grows amidst sickness, separation, and death; a world where beings who were a short while ago connected with us by Sympathetic Joy, are at the next moment in want of our Compassion – such a world needs Equanimity.

But the kind of Equanimity required has to be based on vigilant presence of mind, not on indifferent dullness. It has to be the result of deliberate and hard training, and not the casual outcome of a passing mood. Equanimity would not deserve its name, if it had to be produced by exertion again and again. In that way it is sure to be weakened and finally defeated by the vicissitudes of life. True equanimity, however, should be able to meet all these severe tests and to regenerate its strength from sources within. But it will possess this power of resistance and self-renewal only if it is rooted in Insight.

To establish Equanimity as an unshakable state of mind one has gradually to give up all possessive thoughts of mine, beginning with little things from which it is easy to detach oneself, up to possessions and aims to which our whole heart clings. Moreover, one has to give up step by step all “thoughts of Self”, beginning with a small section of one’s “personality”, with qualities of minor importance. With small weaknesses clearly seen by oneself, up to those emotions and aversions which are regarded as the centre of one’s “Self”. Thus detachment should be practiced.

To the degree we forsake thoughts of “Mine” or “Self” Equanimity will enter into our hearts. For how can it be that, what we realize as something foreign and void of a Self shall cause us any agitation, be it of lust, of hatred or of grief? Thus the Teaching of Non-self will be our guide on the Path to Deliverance, to the Equanimity of holiness.

But its perfection and its unshakable nature are not lifeless rigidity; they are not like the inert gravity of matter. Equanimity is not dullness, heartlessness and frigidity. Its perfection is not due to an emotional ‘emptiness’, but to a ‘fullness’ of understanding, to its being complete in itself. Its unshakable nature is not the immovability of a dead, cold stone, but the manifestation of highest inner strength.

- Author Unknown