Zen Judaism

[fingertrouble]

A friend John Bryan In Cape Town sent me this - and I like it so much I bought the company changed my blog title to one of them.

I'm neither (although I frequently get taken as being Jewish or Muslim cos of the long beard, not that it bothers me) but I like the mix of spirituality and Jewish nature :-D And I think all of us have a Jewish grandmother inside ourselves busting to get out...

ZEN JUDAISM



If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?

_____


Be here now.

Be someplace else later.

Is that so complicated?

_____


Drink tea and nourish life.

With the first sip... joy.

With the second... satisfaction.

With the third, peace.

With the fourth, a danish.

_____


Wherever you go, there you are.

Your luggage is another story.

_____


Accept misfortune as a blessing.

Do not wish for perfect health

Or a life without problems.

What would you talk about?

_____


The journey of a thousand miles

Begins with a single "oy."

_____


There is no escaping karma

In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited.

And whose fault was that?

_____


Zen is not easy.

It takes effort to attain nothingness.

And then what do you have?

Bupkes. [Nothing]

_____


The Tao does not speak.

The Tao does not blame.

The Tao does not take sides.

The Tao has no expectations.

The Tao demands nothing of others.

The Tao is not Jewish.

_____

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems.

_____


Let your mind be as a floating cloud.

Let your stillness be as the wooded glen.

And sit up straight.

You'll never meet the Buddha with such rounded shoulders.

_____


Be patient and achieve all things.

Be impatient and achieve all things faster.

_____


To Find the Buddha, look within.

Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers.

Each flower blossoms ten thousand times.

Each blossom has ten thousand petals.

You might want to see a specialist.

_____


To practice Zen and the art of Jewish motorcycle maintenance, do the
following:

Get rid of the motorcycle.

What were you thinking?

_____


Be aware of your body.

Be aware of your perceptions.

Keep in mind that not every physical sensation is a symptom of a terminal
illness.

_____


The Torah says, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

The Buddha says there is no "self."

So, maybe you are off the hook.

Comments

[qxbear.livejournal.com]

Nice. I recently read this one line that had no other context and it's been stuck in my head ever since, "Evil is in the hand of the beholden."

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

not sure I get that - unless the evil is of course penis shaped :-D