Daily Zen: Week 6

oldman, you have the current issue of Maxim pegged, is that what's on your desk?

Joel

PS-It's on my floor, along with "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones" and "Men's Health"

Day 7:

True enlightenment and wholeness arise when we are without anxiety about nonperfection.

- The Third Patriarch

I like this one Joel.Very cool.

i think that you could take this idea a little further, and say it is to acknowledge the perfection in imperfection.
Would mountains look as awesome if unweathered and featureless?
Everything in nature is assymetrical, rough around the edges and not without fault.It stands to reason that we, being part of nature, should be prone to these tendencies as well, both spiritualy and physicaly.

Acknowledging and working with your flaws and weaknesses, not dwelling on them as an unfair hand dealt by fate, leads to great strength,it requires you not to be self conscious, but rather conscious of self.

enlightenment isn't really about seeking perfection, it's about seeing the world for how it really is. It is the flaws in the world around us that give us hope and joy in life, for without the bad, good has no meaning.

It is about letting go. When you let go of all the attachments/delusions you will experience enlightenment. The idea being enlightenment is already there (can't lose it), but you need to clean the window to see it.

I think the toaster has it correct...it abides in all its toasterness without even knowing what that is ...no ego...just toast

No Ego, but no Compassion either, only combustion (or is that just my toaster?)

About day 7

That's perfect!

ps: my StBernard is snoring and twitching, he looks kinda stupid, to be honest (not sure if you wanted to know that, but my two cent's were so small today so I thought I might throw in a little extra)

Day 8:

Death is our eternal companion. It is always to our left, at an arm's length. It has always been watching you. It always will until the day it taps you.

The thing to do when you're impatient is...to turn to your left and ask advice from your death. An immense amount of pettiness is dropped if your death makes a gesture to you, or if you catch a glimpse of it, or if you just catch the feeling that your companion is there watching you.

- Carlos Castaneda

'Soon Cord, soon'

'Come anytime, welcome guest'

(Q)The Silent Flute.

Live everyday with death in mind, and you will always mean what you say, never take your loved ones for granted, and squeeze every drop of experience out of the day.

One aspect of Bushido that we could all apply in todays world, and would feel the benefits of.

When I was 13, my pet dog was nearly 14. I knew that this was 'getting on a bit' for a dog, and made a point of saying a proper goodnight to him and giving him a treat every night, conscious that he may not be there in the morning.Of course that day sadly came, but i knew that i had said a proper goodbye and that helped.

I never really thought of my own life in such finite terms until fairly recently, but then, immortality is the property of the young. [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif[/IMG]

Like Carl Sagan said when interviewed during remission:

I recommend almost dying to everybody. It's character building. You get a much clearer perspective of what's important and what isn't, the preciousness and beauty of life.

Death is a part of life. It is the border between this world and the next. All the small things we worry about mean nothing in the hereafter, so it's better not to worry about pettiness and get on with the important stuff in life, our families and friends.

'All the small things we worry about mean nothing in the hereafter'

You hope [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/wink.gif[/IMG] Guess someone would have to pop back and confirm it for me to take this as absolute truth. Comforting idea though.

[This message has been edited by Cord (edited 04-15-2005).]

Day 8

You stroke a nostalgic cord there, JoelM, if you were here I'd give you a hug, thank's friend!

Those words meant a great deal to me in the old days at the beginning of my spiritual journey, after I'd failed to bend my mind enough out of shape to accept the "standard" religion of my homeland.

I've struggled quite a bit with death and we're old buddies now, I've tried to bend my mind this way and that, but didn't find other systems (much) easier to "buy" than the first one...
...somewhere along the line, it occurred to me, might as well just let go and I guess that's what I'm doing.

Don't know how much of this letting go I'll have done by the time my old buddy and I finally decide to call it a day, meaning I don't claim to be enlightened or anything only that I've stopped struggling and am here to tell you it's so incredibly peaceful!

Btw, how come there are eight days to week 6?