One Mystical Monkey

Q: How do you describe a schizophrenic Zen Buddhist?
A: A man who is at two with the universe

Ok, so I just couldn’t resist …and the world needs the unexpected, corny joke to pop up once in a while! … or in this case, TWO!

HOW ENLIGHTENED ARE YOU?

IF….

If you can live without caffeine,

If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him or her,

If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,

If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

If you can honestly say that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, gender preference, or politics,

–Then you have almost reached the same level of spiritual development as your dog!

Namaste
-OMM

Well, since one of my widgets recently broke the site background, it seemed an opportune time to refresh the look and feel of the Mystical One’s blog! *g* Ya just gotta go with that Tao flow - especially when it hits you over the head (it’s rather hard to ignore when that happens)! *wink*

I’ll be back soon with another article - on something hopefully a bit more lighthearted and non-political (if avoiding the news is at all possible in the next couple days)! In the meantime, enjoy the updated look!

… borrowed from the Shambhala newsletter (Shambhala.org):

“If we plant peaches, we’re always going to get peaches. If we plant pears, we’re always going to get pears. Karma works in just this way. If you plant nonvirtue- migewa- you get suffering. If you plant virtue- gewa- you get happiness. If we’re using strong negative emotions to get what we want, and what we want is happiness, it’s never going to work. Therefore we need to contemplate our intentions and actions. Contemplating samsara and karma strengthens our intention to point our life away from suffering and toward true happiness.”

- from Turning the Mind Into an Ally by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.
- Alfred Adler

Know ye, O man, ye are only a spirit.
The body is nothing.
The Soul is ALL.
Let not your body be a fetter.
Cast off the darkness and travel in Light.
Cast off your body, O man, and be free,
truly a Light that is ONE with the Light.

The Emerald Tablets of Thoth, Tablet IX “The Key to Freedom of Space”

*transposed from Crystalinks.com

En Lak’eck

“My optimism rests on my belief in the infinite possibilities of the individual to develop nonviolence. . . . In a gentle way you can shake the world.” -Ghandi

It’s not very Buddhist, not very New-Age, Metaphysical or anything of the sort… and it’s certainly not a very detached perspective on the world, but I despise politics. I utterly despise them. I always have. Read the rest of this entry »

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Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Have you heard of the cow who attained liberation?

It was dyslexic and kept on repeating OOOOMMM !