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"Thoughts From An Angel"
an internet posting
sent in by Claudia Bartoli
of Virtual Dolphin

    Many people will walk in and out of your
    life,  but only true friends will leave
    footprints in your heart.
    
    To handle yourself, use your head;
   To handle others, use your heart.
    
    Anger is only one letter short of danger.
    
    If someone betrays you once, it's his fault;
    if he betrays you twice, it's your fault.
    
    Great minds discuss ideas;
    Average minds discuss events;
    Small minds discuss people.
    
   God gives every bird its food,
   But He does not throw it into its nest.
    
   He who loses money, loses much;
   He who loses a friend, loses more;
   He who loses faith, loses all.
    
   Beautiful young people are acts of nature,
   But beautiful old people are works of art.
    
   Learn from the mistakes of others.
  You can't live long enough to make them
   all yourself.
    
   The tongue weighs practically nothing,
   But so few people can hold it.
    
   Friends, you and me....
   you brought another friend...
   and then there were 3...
   we started our group...
   Our circle of friends...
   and like that circle...
   there is no beginning or end..

CAT KENSHO

Some on the list have been discussing waves and the ocean. We have a few second hand accounts and some pleasant stories along the lines of Richard Bach. I can give a first hand story of my cat's encounter with the ocean. His name is Pheelly Joe. (He came by that via the Jazz drummer Philly Joe Jones and his dad "Phelix-Cited"). Joe was the Sixth Best Cat in the world (The International Cat Association) back in '88.

Traveling around the US with Joe brought us very close to one another. We loved each other dearly. Joe was an Abyssinian cat -- he looked like a polished little tiki god -- and was quite dog-like in his behavior.

In our adventures we drove from Boston to a cat show in Virginia Beach, Va. it was early spring and hotel rooms were very cheap. We stayed at a resort right at the beach. My wife and I let Joe out of his carrier ( he was usually loose in the car and liked to sleep on my shoulder). We busied ourselves with unpacking. I noticed Joe standing at the glass door looking out on the Atlantic from six stories up. It was early spring and the surf was pounding in. Joe had never seen the ocean. He was absolutely transfixed in a way I had never witnessed. I spoke to him --no response -- Su and I sat down on the bed and watched him. After several minutes of intense concentration, Joe gave a soft whimper and ran under the bed --not immerge until morning -- when he nuzzled us with unusually deep affection.

I think he realized that all of that out there was water! He knew water in a bowl --or in a bath --but never a whole world of water. There is a poem about Cortez's "wild surmise" upon seeing the Pacific for the first time and realizing that there was another ocean beside the Atlantic. Encountering the One can be like that.   -- Tord Svenson

Joe had the beginner's mind and , if his soul passed on to another form, blessed be that form. Tord ----------------------- "In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong" - John Kenneth Galbraith

ZENCRAFTERS

A button spotted on someone's office cubicle:  "ZenCrafters: Total Enlightenment in about an hour"

STATUS QUO

Start with a cage containing five apes. In the cage, hang a banana on a string and put stairs under it. Before long, an ape will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the Banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the apes with cold water. After a while, another ape makes an attempt with the same result-all the apes are sprayed with cold water. Turn off the cold water.

If, later, another ape tries to climb the stairs, the other apes will try to prevent it even though no water sprays them. Now, remove one ape from the cage and replace it with a new one.

The New ape sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his horror, all of the other apes attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five apes and replace it with a New one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous Newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Again, replace a third original ape with a new one. The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well.

Two of the four apes that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating of the newest ape.

After replacing the fourth and fifth original apes, all the apes which have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.

Nevertheless, no ape ever again approaches the stairs. Why not?

"Because that's the way it's always been around here."

Sound familiar?

A BAHA'I VIEW OF DISABILITY
by Paul Booth
(Paul is actually our Baha'i Commentator
for the InterFaith Forum)

My qualifications for writing this article are:-

1. I am a Bahá'í
2. I am, what most people would perceive as, disabled (on wheels) as a result of poliomyelitis.

Whilst there are few quotations I have discovered in the Bahá'í writings that speak explicitly about disability, there are a number which do so implicitly or are, at the very least, very pertinent. For example:-

"The whole duty of man in this Day is to attain that share of the flood of grace which God poureth forth for him. Let no one, therefore, consider the largeness or smallness of the receptacle. The portion of some might lie in the palm of a man's hand, the portion of others might fill a cup, and of others even a gallon-measure." [Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, page 8]

The implication of this passage, I would suggest, is that whatever we are given (physically, intellectually, spiritually) the important thing is that we seek to fill the receptacle - however large or small that may be. One might argue that the parable of the talents in the Bible (Matthew 25:14) is giving the same teaching.

Perhaps first we should examine what we mean by disability. I would suggest disability may be visible or invisible; physical, mental or spiritual.

Physical Disability

At one extreme - complete paralysis, going through various points on the spectrum including blindness, deafness, arthritis, weak heart etc.

Mental Disability

Again, at one extreme: barely conscious, through to such conditions as autism, schizophrenia, depression, loss of hope; this perhaps leading to substance abuse, and the ensuing downward spiral with its physical, social and spiritual aftermaths.

For opium fasteneth on the soul, so that the user's conscience dieth, his mind is blotted away, his perceptions are eroded. It turneth the living into the dead. [Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá, page 149]

Under this category one could also perhaps include social disability eg shyness or lack of communication skills leading to isolation and loneliness. A pupil at my school suffered greatly in this regard (I use the word suffered advisedly). He was highly intelligent but his social disability dictated that he could not help but flaunt it. He came over as arrogant and superior with the result that he was the probably the most unpopular pupil in the school. This was no minor matter, he was forever being bullied and, I would imagine, he looks back on his school days with horror.

NB It has to be said that the above categorisations into physical or mental disabilities can only be useful labels. For many a mental ailment has a physical or a spiritual origin and, indeed, many a mental or spiritual affliction has a physical manifestation.

Verily the most necessary thing is contentment under all circumstances; by this one is preserved from morbid conditions and from lassitude. Yield not to grief and sorrow: they cause the greatest misery. Jealousy consumeth the body and anger doth burn the liver: avoid these two as you would a lion. [Cited in "Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era", p. 108]

I gained a traumatic insight into mental disability when my mother - Kathleen Booth - succumbed to the stresses and strains of a difficult life; suffered premature senile decay and died in a mental institution just outside Canterbury at age 61. The polio virus that had struck down both myself and my sister, killed my father. My sister, thankfully, recovered almost unscathed but my newly widowed mother was presented with the dire condition of her children and the medical prognosis that I would never sit up and certainly not live beyond the age of 5.

As I look back at age 50 and wonder why I am still here - happily sitting, I conclude that it is primarily because my mother refused to give up. She could, as many might under the circumstances, just have accepted that it was hopeless and seek only to make my remaining months as happy as possible. Instead she went to the hospital physiotherapist and asked to be taught massage. The therapist refused explaining that, done incorrectly, it could do more harm than good. My mother's argument that I was dying anyway, won the day! My earliest memory is laying on the kitchen table being exhorted by my mother to do my exercises in sight of a large stick that I was, reliably, persuaded would be applied to my posterior anatomy should I fail to comply!

My mother had to strive every step of the way working as a school cook during the day and selling "Avon" during the evening to keep us fed and in pocket money. It may be no exaggeration to say that our mother lived for us and when I eventually left a boarding school for the disabled (at age 20) and got a job, it was as though something in my mother said "the battle is won - your children will be fine now" and there followed a swift decline into premature senility.

I would regularly visit her in the mental hospital. In a ward of 50 people, I rarely saw another visitor. She could no longer speak and I used to wonder if she even knew of my presence, there being no sign of recognition. We were not the most demonstrative of families - we knew we all cared so rarely felt the need to say it. On one visit, however, as she sat there seeming totally oblivious to me and all around her, I said: "I do love you, you know". She looked up into my eyes and tears streamed down her cheeks. She was still in there! On the one hand I felt happy that my mother was still present, on the other great anguish that she was trapped in this barely functioning body and mind. I was much comforted later on finding these words of Bahá'u'lláh :-

"Know thou that the soul of man is exalted above, and is independent of all infirmities of body or mind. That a sick person showeth signs of weakness is due to the hindrances that interpose themselves between his soul and his body, for the soul itself remaineth unaffected by any bodily ailments. Consider the light of the lamp. Though an external object may interfere with its radiance, the light itself continueth to shine with undiminished power." [Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh]

Can you imagine what that meant to me? The soul of my mother, the real person who myself and all who knew her, loved: was "unaffected by any bodily ailments." Her brain could be likened to a radio receiver whose circuits are malfunctioning; only a small part of the signal from the soul is getting through amidst all manner of interference and static!

The temple of man is like unto a mirror, his soul is as the sun, and his mental faculties even as the rays that emanate from that source of light. The ray may cease to fall upon the mirror, but it can in no wise be dissociated from the sun. [Baha'i World Faith, pages 346-347]

It was whilst visiting my mother one evening that I experienced one of the more dramatic answers to prayer. Every time I visited, there was always a particular woman crying loudly non stop, every time and all the time I was there. On this occasion, I sat at my mothers bedside and suddenly the woman in the next bed, looking at me with what I can only describe as haunted eyes, pleaded: "Please stop that lady crying!" I felt totally helpless. I found her constant crying distressing even for the hour or so a week I heard it, it must have been torture indeed to hear it twelve, or for all I knew, twenty-four hours a day! I felt so sorry for all the patients - not least the tortured soul in such distress - that I closed my eyes and offered up a truly heartfelt prayer: "Dear Lord, PLEASE give that lady peace".

It was instantaneous, as though someone turned a switch. The moment I said the word "peace" the crying stopped. I was both amazed and truly grateful. I never heard her cry again that evening or on any subsequent visit.

Spirit has influence; prayer has spiritual effect. Therefore, we pray, "O God! Heal this sick one!" Perchance God will answer. Does it matter who prays? God will answer the prayer of every servant if that prayer is urgent. His mercy is vast, illimitable. He answers the prayers of all His servants. [Promulgation of Universal Peace, page 246]

Spiritual Disability

Without question it is spiritual disability that is the most devastating. For it is this that causes us to hate; lack compassion; strive only for self; ignore the guidance of a loving providence and so allow our beautiful world to degenerate into hell instead of reflecting heaven. It is also the most important because, whereas our physical/mental disorders last but three score years and ten, our spiritual health is what we take with us as we are launched into eternity at the close of our earthly lives.

Universal Condition

Anybody can be happy in the state of comfort, ease, health, success, pleasure and joy; but if one will be happy and contented in the time of trouble, hardship and prevailing disease, it is the proof of nobility. ['Abdu'l-Bahá - Baha'i World Faith, page 363]

I would argue that everyone is disabled in one way or another - indeed in a multitude of ways. Whether we suffer from debilitating shyness; whether we have such paucity of spirit that we only seek personal gratification; whether we struggle in poverty and hunger in the third world; whether our joints stiffen due to arthritis or our mind stiffens due to prejudice, we are all disabled to a greater or lesser degree.

Why disability? Why suffering? What I do know is that when I consider those people in my life who have most struck me as being special. The people who, having touched my life, have left me richer for it; they, without exception, have at some time, been through hell. Whether through illness or tragedy they have had the rough edges knocked off exposing the jewel within.

The Purpose of the one true God, exalted be His glory, in revealing Himself unto men is to lay bare those gems that lie hidden within the mine of their true and inmost selves. [Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, page 287]

Regarding such suffering and tests Bahá'u'lláh's son and exemplar of His teachings, 'Abdu'l-Bahá' (1844-1921) explains:-

Tests are benefits from God, for which we should thank Him. Grief and sorrow do not come to us by chance, they are sent to us by the Divine Mercy for our own perfecting...

Men who suffer not, attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardeners is that one which, when the summer comes, will have the most beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit. The labourer cuts up the earth with his plough, and from that earth comes the rich and plentiful harvest. The more a man is chastened, the greater is the harvest of spiritual virtues shown forth by him. A soldier is no good General until he has been in the front of the fiercest battle and has received the deepest wounds." [Paris Talks Pages 50-51]

Bahá'u'lláh says:-

"My calamity is My providence, outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy." [The Hidden Words - Bahá'u'lláh]

A poet friend of mine, Paul Bura, observed in one of his books that polio was the best thing that ever happened to him! He explained (and I paraphrase) that because of it he was perforce, less active than his fellows which meant he spent more time on the sidelines watching others. This served to enhance and develop his powers of observation; an attribute so vital to the art of the poet.

If we just look at this world, the disabilities people suffer can indeed seem like the "fire and vengeance" referred to in the above quotation. However, from the perspective of the life of the soul which, the Bahá'í teachings state, continues to progress for all eternity, we can see that it is indeed, "light and mercy" if we use it as God intended.

There are two ways of looking at things: one that results in futility, one that brings hope action and progress. Three quotations sum this up for me:-

• Two men looking out through bars, one sees the earth, the other sees the stars. [anon]
• The pessimist sees the glass as half empty, the optimist sees it as half full. [anon]
• 'Everything in life ministers to our development. Our lesson is to study and learn. Money and difficulties are alike advantages to us. Tests are either stumbling blocks or stepping stones, just as we make them.'['Abdu'l-Bahá. Cited in: Ten Days in the Light of Akka]

My foster brother, Paul Hodge (a lot of Pauls around aren't there) has stumps instead of arms and legs. For a number of years he was the conductor of the Snowdown Colliery Choir who, under his baton, made records and appeared on TV. He now teaches music - including the piano (which he plays with his stumps. Don't ask - you have to see it to believe it!)

Now one could bemoan "What a shame, what a brilliant musician he might have been if only he hadn't been disabled." Similarly of my new friend, Hero Joy Nightingale. But what an inspiration they are to others. Irrespective of the eternal dimension referred to above, what a blessing from God they are to the world; inspiring us too to make the best possible use of what we have. Imagine how much better the world would be if more people utilised the gifts and talents they had been given instead of existing apathetically in pursuit of short term pleasures and the fast buck.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it is pie in the sky we'll be fine when we die for the disabled person. One of my mothers oft quoted aphorisms was: "when one door closes another one opens". Judging by most of the disabled folk I know - and that is a fair few - one of the doors that opens tends to be an advanced sense of humour and a will to live.

How often do we see a man, poor, sick, miserably clad, and with no means of support, yet spiritually strong. Whatever his body has to suffer, his spirit is free and well! Again, how often do we see a rich man, physically strong and healthy, but with a soul sick unto death. ['Abdu'l-Bahá -Paris Talks, page 65]

Maybe because some of us live a bit closer to the edge survival wise, we tend to appreciate what we have got more than some of our able-bodied fellows. Have you noticed how people who have had near death experiences often change their lives completely? Having glimpsed eternity, they determine to make this life count for something. It pains me then to see folk with healthy bodies abusing them. It is a tragedy that so many are unconscious of their worth and potential that they see no purpose in their lives other than hedonism and dull their wits with alcohol and drugs to avoid really living.

We are SO much more than just flesh and blood

A man should pause and reflect and be just: his Lord, out of measureless grace, has made him a human being and honoured him with the words: "Verily, We created man in the goodliest of forms" - and caused His mercy which rises out of the dawn of oneness to shine down upon him, until he became the wellspring of the words of God and the place where the mysteries of heaven alighted, and on the morning of creation he was covered with the rays of the qualities of perfection and the graces of holiness. How can he stain this immaculate garment with the filth of selfish desires, or exchange this everlasting honour for infamy? "Dost thou think thyself only a puny form, when the universe is folded up within thee?" ['Abdu'l-Bahá - Secret of Divine Civilization, page 19]

And of the next stage of our journey?

As to the soul of man after death, it remains in the degree of purity to which it has evolved during life in the physical body, and after it is freed from the body it remains plunged in the ocean of God's Mercy. ['Abdu'l-Bahá - Paris Talks, page 66]

Life then is an adventure; a race to develop our spiritual capacities and sensibilities before we cast off this mortal coil and these qualities are all we have left. We can't take with us our money, our property, our physical beauty, our trophies, titles or crowns. Whether we are given, clogs, running shoes or skis; whether we are given brightness, health and wealth OR dullness, illness and poverty is - in the great race of life - totally irrelevant. What is important is that we do the best we can with what we have and try and achieve our potential while helping others achieve theirs.

The writer, Paul Booth, has his own web site which contains more information on the Bahá'í Faith, the Late Effects of Polio and some of his other interests. He would be happy to correspond. The books quoted from, or a catalogue are available from The Bahá'í Publishing Trust. Also various Bahá'í texts can be downloaded.

HOW TO TEACH
A Lesson From The Buddha

From: CL Liew <besma@pc.jaring.my> Subject: Dhamma Teaching Tips by the Buddha Date: Wednesday, 11 February 1998 15:31

The Blessed One (or Buddha) is known as the unexcelled trainer of people. So, in trying to spread the good teachings, let's refer to some excellent *tips* given by Him:

Anguttara Nikaya IV.111 Kesi Sutta To Kesi the Horsetrainer:

Then Kesi the horsetrainer went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him: "You, Kesi, are a trained man, a trainer of tamable horses. And how do you train a tamable horse?"

"Lord, I train a tamable horse [sometimes] with mildness, [sometimes] with harshness, [sometimes] with both mildness & harshness."

"And if a tamable horse does not submit either to a mild training or to a harsh training or to a mild & harsh training, Kesi, what do you do?"

"If a tamable horse does not submit either to a mild training or to a harsh training or to a mild and harsh training, lord, then I kill it. Why is that? [I think:] 'Don't let this be a disgrace to my lineage of teachers.' But the Blessed One, lord, is the unexcelled trainer of tamable people. How do you train a tamable person?"

"Kesi, I train a tamable person [sometimes] with mildness, [sometimes] with harshness, [sometimes] with both mildness & harshness.

"In using mildness, [I teach:] 'Such is good bodily conduct. Such is the result of good bodily conduct. Such is good verbal conduct. Such is the result of good verbal conduct. Such is good mental conduct. Such is the result of good mental conduct. Such are the devas. Such are human beings.'

"In using harshness, [I teach:] 'Such is bodily misconduct. Such is the result of bodily misconduct. Such is verbal misconduct. Such is the result of verbal misconduct. Such is mental misconduct. Such is the result of mental misconduct. Such is hell. Such is the animal womb. Such the realm of the hungry shades.'

"In using mildness & harshness, [I teach:] 'Such is good bodily conduct. Such is the result of good bodily conduct. Such is bodily misconduct. Such is the result of bodily misconduct. Such is good verbal conduct. Such is the result of good verbal conduct. Such is verbal misconduct. Such is the result of verbal misconduct. Such is good mental conduct. Such is the result of good mental conduct. Such is mental misconduct. Such is the result of mental misconduct. Such are the devas. Such are human beings. Such is hell. Such is the animal womb. Such the realm of the hungry shades.'"

"And if a tamable person does not submit either to a mild training or to a harsh training or to a mild & harsh training, what do you do?"

"If a tamable person does not submit either to a mild training or to a harsh training or to a mild & harsh training, then I kill him, Kesi."

"But it's not proper for our Blessed One to take life! And yet the Blessed One just said, 'I kill him, Kesi.'"

"It is true, Kesi, that it's not proper for a Tathagata to take life. But if a tamable person does not submit either to a mild training or to a harsh training or to a mild & harsh training, then the Tathagata does not regard him as being worth speaking to or admonishing. His knowledgeable fellows in the holy life do not regard him as being worth speaking to or admonishing. This is what it means to be totally destroyed in the Doctrine & Discipline, when the Tathagata does not regard one as being worth speaking to or admonishing, and one's knowledgeable fellows in the holy life do not regard one as being worth speaking to or admonishing."

"Yes, lord, wouldn't one be totally destroyed if the Tathagata does not regard one as being worth speaking to or admonishing, and one's knowledgeable fellows in the holy life do not regard one as being worth speaking to or admonishing.

"Magnificent, lord! Magnificent! Just as if the Blessed One were to place upright what had been overturned, or to reveal what was hidden, were to show the way to one who was lost, or were to hold up a lamp in the dark so that those with eyes could see shapes, in the same way the Blessed One has -- through many lines of reasoning -- made the Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for refuge, to the Dhamma, and to the community of monks. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge, from this day forward, for life."

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didnt lose his temper at all.

He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us. Show your friends how much you care. --from antipodes

SMALL WOODEN PEOPLE

The Wemmicks were small wooden people. Each of the wooden people was carved by a woodworker named Eli. His workshop sat on a hill overlooking their village.

Every Wemmick was different. Some had big noses, others had large eyes. Some were tall and others were short. Some wore hats, others wore coats. But all were made by the same carver and all lived in the village.

And all day, every day, the Wemmicks did the same thing: They gave each other stickers. Each Wemmick had a box of golden star stickers and a box of gray dot stickers. Up and down the streets all over the city, people could be seen sticking stars or dots on one another.

The pretty ones, those with smooth wood and fine paint, always got stars. But if the wood was rough or the paint chipped, the Wemmicks gave dots.

The talented ones got stars, too. Some could lift big sticks high above their heads or jump over tall boxes. Still others knew big words or could sing very pretty songs. Everyone gave them stars.

Some Wemmicks had stars all over them! Every time they got a star it made them feel so good that they did something else and got another star.

Others, though, could do little. They got dots.

Punchinello was one of these. He tried to jump high like the others, but he always fell. And when he fell, the others would gather around and give him dots.

Sometimes when he fell, it would scar his wood, so the people would give him more dots.

He would try to explain why he fell and say something silly, and the Wemmicks would give him more dots.

After a while he had so many dots that he didn't want to go outside. He was afraid he would do something dumb such as forget his hat or step in the water, and then people would give him another dot. In fact, he had so many gray dots that some people would come up and give him one without reason.

"He deserves lots of dots," the wooden people would agree with one another. "He's not a good wooden person."

After a while Punchinello believed them. "I'm not a good Wemmick," he would say.

The few times he went outside, he hung around other Wemmicks who had a lot of dots. He felt better around them.

One day he met a Wemmick who was unlike any he'd ever met. She had no dots or stars. She was just wooden. Her name was Lulia.

It wasn't that people didn't try to give her stickers; it's just that the stickers didn't stick. Some admired Lulia for having no dots, so they would run up and give her a star. But it would fall off. Some would look down on her for having no stars, so they would give her a dot. But it wouldn't stay either.

'That's the way I want to be,' thought Punchinello. 'I don't want anyone's marks.' So he asked the stickerless Wemmick how she did it.

"It's easy," Lulia replied. "every day I go see Eli."

"Eli?"

"Yes, Eli. The woodcarver. I sit in the workshop with him."

"Why?"

"Why don't you find out for yourself? Go up the hill. He's there." And with that the Wemmick with no marks turned and skipped away.

"But he won't want to see me!" Punchinello cried out. Lulia didn't hear. So Punchinello went home. He sat near a window and watched the wooden people as they scurried around giving each other stars and dots. "It's not right," he muttered to himself. And he resolved to go see Eli.

He walked up the narrow path to the top of the hill and stepped into the big shop. His wooden eyes widened at the size of everything. The stool was as tall as he was. He had to stretch on his tiptoes to see the top of the workbench. A hammer was as long as his arm. Punchinello swallowed hard. "I'm not staying here!" and he turned to leave.

Then he heard his name.

"Punchinello?" The voice was deep and strong.

Punchinello stopped.

"Punchinello! How good to see you. Come and let me have a look at you."

Punchinello turned slowly and looked at the large bearded craftsman. "You know my name?" the little Wemmick asked.

"Of course I do. I made you."

Eli stooped down and picked him up and set him on the bench.

"Hmm," the maker spoke thoughtfully as he inspected the gray circles.

"Looks like you've been given some bad marks."

"I didn't mean to, Eli. I really tried hard."

"Oh, you don't have to defend yourself to me, child. I don't care what the other Wemmicks think."

"You don't?"

"No, and you shouldn't either. Who are they to give stars or dots? They're Wemmicks just like you. What they think doesn't matter, Punchinello. All that matters is what I think. And I think you are pretty special."

Punchinello laughed. "Me, special? Why? I can't walk fast. I can't jump. My paint is peeling. Why do I matter to you?"

Eli looked at Punchinello, put his hands on those small wooden shoulders, and spoke very slowly. "Because you're mine. That's why you matter to me."

Punchinello had never had anyone look at him like this--much less his maker. He didn't know what to say.

"Every day I've been hoping you'd come," Eli explained.

"I came because I met someone who had no marks."

"I know. She told me about you."

"Why don't the stickers stay on her?"

"Because she has decided that what I think is more important than what they think. The stickers only stick if you let them."

"What?"

"The stickers only stick if they matter to you. The more you trust my love, the less you care about the stickers."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"You will, but it will take time. You've got a lot of marks. For now, just come to see me every day and let me remind you how much I care."

Eli lifted Punchinello off the bench and set him on the ground.

"Remember," Eli said as the Wemmick walked out the door. "You are special because I made you. And I don't make mistakes."

Punchinello didn't stop, but in his heart he thought, "I think he really means it."

And when he did, a dot fell to the ground.

COMMERCIALISATION OF BUDDHISM

Came across an illuminating advertisement on the back cover of an American outdoors (as in recreation) magazine that I subscribe to. The ad photo shows a young American male (YAM) sitting in front of a pile of high-end, cool gear and outdoor toys. He is sitting cross-legged in a meditation position, well, sort of. Resting high atop the pile of gear and toys is a four-wheel-drive truck. Here is the ad copy:

Spence put a new twist on an old philosophy. To be one *with* everything, he says, you've gotta have one *of* everything. That's why he also has the new Ford Rancid. So he can seek wisdom on a mountain top. Take off in hot pursuit of enlightenment. And connect with Mother Earth. By looking no further than into THE PLANET'S COOLEST 4-DOOR COMPACT PICKUP. He says it gives him easy access to inner peace. Which makes him one happy soul. RANCID 4-DOOR SUPERCAB (Built Ford Tough)

[emphases in original -- truck model name changed. By me.]

Far as I'm concerned, this ad just goes to show the way in which Buddhism is regarded and practiced by many in America -- that it's just another part of the Great Judeo-Christian Hangover. And lest anyone forget, the neo Holy Trinity there is: 1) Money 2) Entertainment 3) "Freedom" (refer to 1 & 2 above)

Now I gotta go do some e-commerce. What's that new sleeping bag I wanted? Backpack? Should I use my gold or platinum card? Maybe I better meditate on it . . . Brad

T'ai-chi-t'u, The Supreme Ultimate  
by  Charles Cromer
Founder of the Taoist Circle Organization
What the Yin-Yang Symbol really means.

The T'ai-chi-t'u (diagram of the Supreme Ultimate), more commonly known as the yin-yang symbol, is one of the most common, yet most misunderstood symbol you will see worn or displayed by people today.

Most view the T'ai-chi-t'u as a representation of good versus evil.  This is not entirely correct.  American society, being mostly raised with a Christian base, tends to place this good/evil label on the symbol, for that is what most easily fits their view of religion and the world.  While good and evil are represented within the symbology of the T'ai-chi-t'u, as is everything, it is far from what  symbol represents as a whole.  The T'ai-chi- t'u is more a representation of how all things in this world came to be, how they are now, and by what means they will return to the original source (the Tao).

Yin originally denoted the northern slope of a mountain (the side facing away from the sun).  Thus it also represents the aspects of earth, darkness, cold, softness, receptiveness, the moon and the feminine.

Yang originally denoted the slope of a mountain facing the sun.  Thus it came to represent heaven, warmth, brightness, masculinity, creativity, hardness, and activity.

Even with these relative opposites, most people over look the most important aspect of the T'ai-chi-t'u.  That aspect is the all encompassing circle that hold both the yin and yang forces within itself.  This shows that no matter how different things may seem (the illusion of duality), they are simply all a part of the whole (the Tao).

The T'ai-chi-t'u is a cosmological diagram created by the neo-confucianist philosopher Chou Tun-i (1017-73 c.e.).  This diagram was created to describe the process by which the ten thousand things (everything, wan-wu) came about from the source, the unconditioned (wu-chi).  This creation of everything (wan-wu) is represented in the T'ai-chi-t'u.  This creation is also represented in the very first chapter of the Tao Te Ching, the most important text in the taoist cannon. (Wunsche, p.148)

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Chapter #1

"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one see the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name;
     this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery." (Feng/English, p. 3)

"The nameless (Wu-chi, the unconditioned) is the beginning of heaven and earth ( Wang-chi, yin and yang, absolute opposites)."

At first everything was as one.  There was no duality, no differences, no good or evil and is represented by the symbol of Wu Chi.  This is the beginning and the end of all things.  The point where one is either separated from or merged into the oneness of the Tao.

The next step, is also within this quote.  This is where Wu-chi turns into Wang-chi.  This is the state where absolute duality existed, heaven and earth, light and dark, etc...

"The named (wang-chi, heaven and earth, yin and yang) is the mother of
the ten thousand things (all, everything)."

This is the state where the two absolute opposites mix with one another.   From the mixing of opposites you derive an infinite combination of things that are in the world today, the ten thousand things.  Thus with that there are no longer any pure opposites, for one will always have the seed of the other within it.  Just as yin has a dot of yang in its eye, and vice versa.

That is the point we are at now in the world.  How did we get to this point?  By being, "ever desiring, [we only] see the manifestations."   Thus by our focusing on our desires we have created duality that separates us from the oneness of everything.  By judging something beautiful we create ugliness.  By judging one person good, we make a standard by which others are deficient. These desires hinder us from seeing that we are all from the same source, and thus we are all one.

The goal of a Taoist is to revert back to the very first step (Wu-chi), where all duality is seen for what it is, an illusion.  At that point we will then be one with the Tao.

How is this goal achieved?  Through being, "ever desireless, [we] can see the mystery."  Thus, by ridding ourselves of desire we will eventually reach the point where we see through the illusion.  By riding ourselves of ego, greed, duality, the need to be correct, labeling things etc... we will eventually see the mystery and merge with the Tao. 

At that point we will be one, for we will see that we always were one all along.  -- Charles Cromer

Bibliography Werner Wunsche.  1996.  The Shambhala Dictionary of Taoism.  Boston.
     Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English.  1972.  Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu  New York.Vintage Books