“Prayer” by Deng Ming Dao
Prayer is simple.
Pressing your palms together is a universal gesture of prayer, benediction, gratitude, and humility. It signals that you are unifying all aspects of yourself and that you are completely present. No one can pick up a weapon or form a fist with palms pressed together. In prayer, there can be no aggression.
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“Hell - An Old Buddhist Story” — Author Unknown
In ancient times there was a small village with a monastery nearby. One day, samurai warriors arrived and sacked the whole village. They took all the valuables, burned the homes, and killed all the people they met. Finally, they came to a monastery, and out in front of this monastery was an old Zen master. He is just sitting in the garden when a young samurai warrior comes up to him. The samurai pulls out his sword, holds it up over his head and says, “Old man, don’t you know that I have the power to kill you? I could lop off your head right now without even thinking of it.”
"Village of Creatures" by Richard Bach
Once there lived a village of creatures on the bottom of a great crystal river.
The current of the river swept silently over them all - young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way, knowing its own crystal self.
Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth.
“LOVE” (from 1st Corinthians 13) by Joni Mitchell
Although I speak in tongues
of men and angels
I'm just sounding brass
and tinkling cymbals without love
Love suffers long
Love is kind!
Enduring all things
Love has no evil in mind
“Finding a Piece of the Truth” — Zen Parable
One day Mara, the Evil One, was travelling through the villages of India with his attendants. He saw a man doing walking meditation whose face was lit up on wonder. The man had just discovered something on the ground in front of him. Mara’s attendant asked what that was and Mara replied, “A piece of truth.”
"Kingdom of Heaven" (from Omega Retreat) Eckhart Tolle
Kingdom of Heaven - a dimension of vast spaciousness
And the moment your “thinking mind” ceases between two thoughts, what is left of you?
"The Need to Win" by Chuang Tzu
When an archer is shooting for nothing,
he has all his skill.
If he shoots for a brass buckle,
he is already nervous.
If he shoots for a prize of gold,
he goes blind or sees two targets.
"Symphony of Spirit" by Naomi F. Stone
Every night I arise to sing, to invite, and to celebrate the birth of sacramental love in the opening of hearts, as the earth and sky reflect the brilliance of the light,…
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"The Little Man" by Bob Fergeson
From early morning coffee
to late night herbal tea,
We lived for near forever,
the Little Man and me.
"The Active Life" by Chuang Tzu
If an expert does not have some problem to vex him, he is unhappy.
If a philosopher's teaching is never attacked, he pines away.
If critics have no one on whom to exercise their spite, they are miserable.
All such people are prisoners in a world of objects.