July 24:

A monk asked: “At the top of a 100-foot pole, how do I step forward?”
Ch’ang-sha said: “Mountains of Lang, rivers of Li.”
The monk confessed he did not understand.
Ch’ang-sha tried again: “The four seas and five lakes are all under the reign of the king.”

ZEN KOAN

in this metaphore, I'd rather be the king of a continent than some dude trippin atop a flagpole.

I'm pretty much convinced I'll never be a zen master now, thanks for putting me in my place harlan.

There's another part of the koan at the beginning that goes
Ch'ang-Sha said: "One who sits on top of the 100 foot pole has not quite attained true enlightenment. Make another step forward from the top of the pole and throw one's own body into the 100,000 universes."

Have you considered working as a 'quip finder' for a calendar company?

July 25:

Speaking of Buddhas and Zen masters, talking about mysteries and marvels, is all saying too much or too little.

ZEN SAYING

While you were walking, recluse, you tell me you have stopped;
But now, when I have stopped, you say I have not stopped.
I ask you, O recluse, about the meaning:
How is it that you have stopped and I have not?

Angulimala, I have stopped forever.
I abstain from violence towards living beings.
But you have no restraint towards things that live.
That is why I have stopped and you have not.

BUDDHIST MONDO

Sometimes it is better to stop and smell the roses!

As regards the quietude of the sage, he is not quiet because quietness is said to be good.
He is quiet because the multitude of things cannot disturb his quietude.

CHUANG-TZU

The eye of the storm, baby! The eye of the storm.

TGIF! One of my favorite writers:

Everything that appears is singing one song, which is the song of emptiness and fullness. We experience the world of phenomena and consciousness, of light and dark, playing themselves out in a dance without separation.

JACK KORNFIELD

Let us try to recognize the precious nature of each day.

THE 14TH DALAI LAMA

What could be more of a challenge?

Matt,

You appreciate Monday by virtue of it being more repugnant than the rest of the days of the work week. It's that Yin Yang, Dark Side of the Force thing.

Hell, a cold beer tastes better when you haven't had any after a week of hard work!

The only thing to worry about is is that some Friday's turn into Monday's....now that sucks!

August 1:

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter...to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring—these are some of the rewards of the simple life.

JOHN BURROUGHS

"I live in a van, down by the river..."
-Chris Farley

The simple life made simpler.

Just like needing more money to eat well and healthily, it takes more resources and more time spent on the casual things in life than many folk have who are looking for their next meal.

As in Tao Te Ching

Te is being quiet because quietness is said to be good

Tao is

Nice to see you around, Nenipp!

Today's thought:

'It is what it is.'

(A 'Nardism' today, as I can't get my Zen Quote email to open. )

Quote:

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'It is what it is.'

---

Exactly! Except when it isn't. How one appreciates things matter as much as their rational and logical existence, at least to the individual.

If everyone around you says something is green, but you are color blind and it appears gray. Who is the owner of the truth when appearances are decieving and what is "real" is sometimes less appreciated by those who can't look passed their noses?

Both truths would be right. 'It is what it is'...can be green, or grey, or both, or neither ('what it isn't' ).

What was it and what will it be is the question.

nah.....I'm just enjoying reading daily zen,thanks.

Yes, It is the Tao of Harlan.

It is as it is, how we see it is another ballgame alltogether..

Aug. 3:

Greed is the basic cause of misery. Free yourself of greed, and the mountains, rivers, and earth do not block the light of your eyes.

SHE-HSIEN

Does that mean ignore the greed of others?

What others?
Another way to put that would be, no. Do not ignore the greed of others. The Bodhisattva works to free all beings from illusion, as the Bodhisattva recognizes that there is no seperation between one being and another. In freeing yourself, you help to free others.
Or you could say "don't look at the spec in your brother's eye, first remove the log from your own eye." why? because you and your brother are One...

Aug. 4:

Without there being desire in the mind,
there would be no desire in the body.
Without there being anger in the mind,
there would be no anger in the body.

-Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche

Seems like common sense to me.

What is desire?

Is it the thing that gives zest to life? The fire to burn a little brighter in love and friendship?

Is it different that the want for more, for wanting's sake?

I desire food for health and enjoyment....and though less healthy than a platter of cold tofu, a piece of apple pie goes a long way to fulfill what I want, and perhaps more than what I need. But it is nice to occasionally get what you want just because you desire it.

I am, after all, only human.

-B

Aug. 7:

To enter one’s own self, it is necessary to go armed to the teeth.

PAUL VALÉRY

Better to go more than just armed. In the slimey abode of my consciousness, I need someone's hand to hold!

I desire too free myself from desire.

going to war with yourself doesn't work. the only long-term way is to make peace with yourself...unarmed.

What day is it? Anyway, today's quote:

I should never have made my success in life if I had not bestowed upon the least thing I have ever undertaken the same attention and care I have bestowed upon the greatest.

CHARLES DICKENS

Ok..you scored with this one. No bad puns or counter quotes. This is a good one!

Perhaps that is the role of 'spiritual friend'...the sensei of the psyche.

Space and Time! now I see it is true,
what I guess’d at,
What I guess’d when I loaf’d on the grass,
What I guess’d while I lay alone in my bed,
And again as I walk’d the beach under
the paling stars of the morning.

WALT WHITMAN

Last one for the week:

All times and all places are my livelihood.

ZEN SAYING

Let me go back one step and say Walt Whitman was the bomb! Song of Myself was exceedingly cool!

-B

There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place.

Washington Irving