“…the only thing that keeps you from finding truth is your conviction that you have already found it.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
Archive for September, 2007
truth…
Posted in Thich Nhat Hanh, truth on September 27, 2007| Leave a Comment »
When the rich wage war
Posted in peace, Sartre, war on September 26, 2007| Leave a Comment »
the wide sea
Posted in haiku, Shiki on September 25, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Into fog, through the fog
We rowed. Then:
The wide sea – so blue, so bright!
Masaoka Shiki
listening
Posted in Jean Vanier on September 22, 2007| Leave a Comment »
“Listening is a difficult and sometimes tedious art. It is so much easier to tell people what to do. But to capture their desires, with an open and free heart, requires a real conversion, a “metanoia”, a change of attitude. To listen to someone means to become open and vulnerable to him/her and to allow them to disturb us, to change our habits and our ways of thinking and seeing things.”
Jean Vanier — Letters of L’Arche
emptiness
Posted in emptiness, Zen on September 21, 2007| Leave a Comment »
A professor, who was looking for wisdom, went to see a wise man named Nan-in.
During their meeting, Nan-in was pouring tea and continued to pour and pour
even though the professor’s cup was overflowing.
The professor cried. “Enough! No more will go in!”
Nan-in replied “Like this cup you are full of your own opinions and ideas.
How can you find wisdom unless you first empty your cup?”
a Zen story
a child……
Posted in Dogen, favorite things, motherhood on September 20, 2007| Leave a Comment »
You should study not only that you become a mother when your child is born,
but also that you become a child.
Dogen
“And if I am only for myself…”
Posted in favorite things, Hillel on September 19, 2007| Leave a Comment »
“If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?
And if I am only for myself, then what am I?
And if not now, when?”
Rabbi Hillel
my task…
Posted in culture of peace, favorite things, peace on September 14, 2007| 3 Comments »
In adolescence I aimed to change the world — to right the wrongs of humanity on a global scale. I envisioned an end to war, oppression, injustice, and strife.
Soon I realized that I would have to change my own community first. Only after succeeding here, could I hope to impact upon the world. So I set out to improve education, mediate quarrels, and introduce proper priorities into local politics.
Finally, I saw that my real work was with my family. I must begin by changing and perfecting those closest to me — my wife and children.
Only later did I see that my true focus of effort must be myself — that to become a kind and decent human being was a life’s worth of work. And if, with the grace and assistances of G-d, I could succeed in this most difficult of tasks, I would be making the greatest of all possible contributions to my family, community, and even to the world.
Rabbi Yisrael Salanter
cimarronsong 