Imagine All the People

Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!

---Albert Einstein---

Solving Problems

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

---Albert Einstein---

Matter/Engery - Energy/Matter

We have been all wrong! What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been lowered as to be perceptible to the senses.

---Albert Einstein---

The Universal Vision

The universal vision cannot be apprehended by one who sees the self as fundamentally at war with others, "looking out for number one" at the expense of others who must be bested. Only when we see that we are all in it together, and invigorate our intention to live constructively in that light, can we see each one as truly integral to the whole.

---Taigen Dan Leighton---

Intelligence

The highest form of human intelligence is to observe yourself without judgement.

---Jiddu Krishnamurti---

Lost in the Open

The moment you follow someone you cease to follow Truth.

---Jiddu Krishnamurti---

You Practice, You Make It Habitual

You must know that it is no easy thing for a principle to become a man's own, unless each day he maintain it and hear it maintained, as well as work it out in life.

---Epictetus---

Other Religious Traditions

The greater our awareness regarding the value and effectiveness of other religious traditions, then the deeper will be our respect and reverence toward other religions. This is the proper way for us to promote genuine compassion and a spirit of harmony among the religions of the world.

---His Holiness the Dalai Lama---

A Ghanaian Gravy

1/2 cup of water
1 small onion, small dice
4 small tomatoes, small dice
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup of tomato paste
1 teaspoon of curry powder

Place all the ingredients except the curry powder in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil.

Reduce the heat heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Stir in the curry powder and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve with fried potatoes, toast, or over cooked yams.

Non-Alcoholic Cocktail - Penzance Cocktail

2 ounces of orange juice
6 ounces of non-alcoholic ginger beer
1 lemon wedge

Pour the orange juice and the ginger beer into a beer mug with a few ice cubes.

Stir well.

Garnish with the lemon wedge.

The Flight of the Garuda

Do not cling to any one thing. Nothing is it, so do not judge and criticize. No intellectual concepts are valid, so do not presume.

---Shabkar---

Fame

Fame is the flattery of Mara.

---Adept Godrakpa---




Note:
Mara is not the Buddhist equivalent of the Christian Satan. Mara is your greed, your anger, your delusion.

Our Mothers

Thinking of human beings alone is a bit narrow. To consider that all sentient beings in the universe have been our mother at some point in time opens a space for compassion.

---His Holiness the Dalai Lama---

The Goddess Teaches Shariputra

Shariputra said, “The form and shape of my female body does not exist, yet does not not exist.”

The goddess said, “All things are just like that—they do not exist, yet they do not not exist. And that they do not exist, yet do not not exist, is exactly what the Buddha teaches.”

---The Vimalakirti Sutra---

The Path

Contemplating the path means that you persist on the practice path in accordance with the three studies of precepts, concentration, and wisdom.

---Master Sheng Yen---

Cause and Effect

It is simply that various phenomena have come together to form this body. It has appeared simply because phenomena appeared, and it will vanish simply because phenomena vanish.

---The Vimalakirti Sutra---

Rick Stotijn

Place of Practice

An upright mind is the place of practice, for it is without sham or falsehood. The resolve to act is the place of practice, for it can judge matters properly. A deeply searching mind is the place of practice, for it multiplies benefits. The mind that aspires is the place of practice, for it is without error or misconception.

---The Vimalakirti Sutra---

Grabbing Water

To destroy the moment of delusion is enlightenment, but to hold on to the moment of enlightenment is once more delusion. And to define enlightenment as this or that is opinion.

---Soko Morinaga---

Starving-Student Corn Soup

2 cups of whole kernel corn
3 cups of milk, divided
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Celery seed to taste
Onion powder to taste

Puree the corn and 1 cup of the milk.

Pour the pureed mixture into a sauce pan and add the remaining 2 cups of milk. Heat through.

Season to taste.

Note: Add some butter for a smooth feel and taste.

Non-Alcoholic Cocktail - Russian Denim

3 ounces of orange juice
1 ounce of cranberry juice
1/2 teaspoon of grenadine
1 egg yolk
2 ounces of club soda


In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine the orange juice, the cranberry juice, the grenadine, and the egg yolk. Shake it well.

Strain the cocktail into a highball glass almost filled with ice cubes.

Top with the club soda and stir well.

Ponder This Quote

For unless detachment is based on compassion, it may lead to nirvana, but it does not lead to buddhahood.

---Red Pine, in his commentary of The Diamond Sutra---

Respect

Arapaho Village

Before eating, always take time to thank the food.

---Arapaho Proverb---

Beware of the Untouchable

I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.

---Richard Feynman---

If There Is No Eternal, Unchanging Soul, What Is Reborn?

It is ignorance that is reborn.

---Tsung-mi, the Fifth Patriarch of Hua-Yen---

The Universe

[T]he universe is beyond views, without emotions, profusely evolving myriad forms.

---Thomas Cleary---

Nothing Inferior

There is nothing mean or inferior, or anything to be despised in the whole of existence, when it is properly seen apart from self-interest. Every item in the cosmic inventory is of supreme value, for everything is empty, and therefore it contains and teaches that reality which shines from its heart.

---Francis H. Cook---

Emptiness

All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.

---The Buddha---

Avoid Hate

Even in the act of defense, avoid hate.

Armenian Proverb

Even if the nightingale is in a gold cage, she still dreams of returning to the forest.

Obstructions

Anything you cannot let go of is an obstruction to wisdom, to awakening.

The Practice

There is a Chinese saying: "You can't dig a well with one scoop." Another one is: "You can't eat a cake in one bite." It is better for the digestion to chew food until very fine before swallowing. It is the same with practice. Don't try to swallow your practice in one gulp; chew it patiently. You have to be careful and meticulous.

---Master Sheng Yen---

Starving-Student Kool-Aid Pie

1 (12 ounce) can of evaporated milk, refrigerated so it is cold
2/3 cup of sugar
1 (.15 ounce) package of Kool-Aid (any flavor)
Cool Whip
1 store-bought graham cracker crust

Beat the milk until it is doubled in size.

Add the sugar and the Kool-Aid and beat until thickened (about 5 minutes).

Put the milk and Kool-Aid mixture into the pie crust. refrigerate until ready to serve.

Just before serving, top with the Cool Whip.

Suffering

The cause of all suffering
Is rooted in greed.
If greed is extinguished
There will be no place for suffering.

---The Lotus Sutra---

Non-Alcoholic Cocktail - Virgin Mary

7 ounces of tomato juice
1/2 ounce of lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon of black pepper
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of celery seed
3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1 dash of Tabasco sauce (this is important for an authentic Virgin Mary)
1 celery rib
1 lime wedge


In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine all the ingredients except the celery rib and the lime wedge.

Shake well. Strain the cocktail into a highball glass almost filled with ice cubes.

Garnish with the celery rib and the lime wedge.

Reason For Pride

Mahavyuha (Magnificently Adorned Bodhisattva) Speaking of the Buddha

Quiet is his wisdom,
Calm his emotion,
Serene and firm his reasoning.
His will has departed.

---The Lotus Sutra---

Compassion

We cannot offer compassion to others if we cannot be compassionate, accepting, and forgiving of ourselves. We can hear and acknowledge our own feelings of fear, frustration, and anger with calm uprightness, rather than needing to react externally and act them out inappropriately.

---Taigen Dan Leighton---

The Four Conditions of Philosophy

Philosophy requires its practitioners of either gender to assume the roles of savant, artist, activist and lover. I have called them the four conditions of philosophy.

---Alain Badiou---

Finding Peace

Peace is within oneself, to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where you experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. To try to run away from suffering is actually to run toward it. Investigate suffering, see its causes, and put an end to them right now, rather than merely dealing with the effects.

---Achaan Chah---

Old-Fashioned German-American Farmers' Turnip Salad

To 3 cups of finely grated, peeled turnips add mayonnaise, sugar, salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Stir in enough milk for a comfortable consistency.

Allow to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.

West Michigan Pea Salad

1 cup of blanched peas, drained
1 cup of celery, finely diced
1/2 cup of sweet pickles, chopped
1/2 cup of diced of Emmental cheese


Mix all the ingredients carefully and thoroughly. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Carefully stir in a tiny bit of a very good (preferably homemade) mayonnaise.

Serve.

Enlightenment

Enlightenment, however, does not mean to produce truth but is the discovery of truth.

Letting Go of Attachments

Do not pursue conditioned existence;
Do not abide in acceptance of emptiness.

---Hsin Hsin Ming---

The One Expands Upon the Other

Everything is as it is. It has no name other than the name we give it. It is we who call it something; we give it a value. We say this thing is good or it's bad, but in itself, the thing is only as it is. It's not absolute, it's just as it is. people are just as they are.

---Ajahn Sumedho---


To understand the Buddhas of endless time just penetrate this phrase: Everything is created by mind alone.

---from The Morning Bell Chant---

The Disease of the Mind

Like and dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning (of the Way)
is not understood
the intrinsic peace of mind is disturbed.

---Hsin Hsin Ming---

A Great Pilgrimage

I felt in need of a great pilgrimage
so I sat still
for three days.

--Hafiz---

Zen Gatha

Chasing after the world
Brings chaos.
Allowing it all to come to me
Brings peace.

The Hua-yen School and Buddha Nature

The Hua-yen School of Buddhism goes beyond the teaching that everything, animate and inanimate possesses Buddha Nature. Hua-yen says it is not a question of things possessing Buddha Nature, all things are Buddha Nature.