enlighten me

LAO TZU:

When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess,
acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.

People, more people
scurrying through spring breezes
along the rice-field dikes.

Tayo-jo (1772-1865)

GEORG LICHTENBERG:

That amounts to taking owls to Athens or compendia to Gottingen.

HUGO VON HOFMANNSTHAL:

Characters without action are lame, action without characters blind.

ZEN SOUP:

Simplify!

101 STORIES:

A young physician in Tokyo named Kusuda met a college friend who had been studying Zen. The young doctor asked him what Zen was.
'I cannot tell you what it is,' the friend replied, 'but one thing is certain. If you understand Zen, you will not be afraid to die.'
'That's fine,' said Kusuda. 'I will try it. Where can I find a teacher?'
'Go to the master Nan-in,' the friend told him.
So Kusuda went to call on Nan-in. He carried a dagger nine and a half inches long to determine whether or not the teacher himself was afraid to die.
When Nan-in saw Kusuda he exclaimed: 'Hello, friend. How are you ? We haven't seen each other for a long time!'
This perplexed Kusuda, who replied: 'We have never met before.'
That's right,' answered Nan-in. 'I mistook you for another physician who is receiving instruction here.'
With such a beginning, Kusuda lost his chance to test the master, so reluctantly he asked if he might receive Zen instruction.
Nan-in said: 'Zen is not a difficult task. If you are a physician, treat your patients with kindness. That is Zen.'
Kusuda visited Nan-in three times. Each time Nan-in told him the same thing. 'A physician should not waste time around here. Go home and take care of your patients.'
It was not yet clear to Kusiula how such teaching could remove the fear of death. So on his fourth visit lie complained: 'My friend told me when one learns Zen one loses his fear of death. Each time I come here all you tell me is to take care of my patients. I know that much. If that is your so-called Zen, I am not going to visit you any more.'
Nan-in smiled and patted the doctor. 'I have been too strict with you. Let me give you a koan.' He presented Knsudn with Joshti's Mu to work over, which is the first mind-enlightening problem in the book called The Gateless Gate.
Kusuda pondered this problem of Mu (No-thing) for two years. At length he thought he had reached certainty of mind. But his teacher commented : 'You are not in yet.'
Kusuda continued in concentration for another year and a half. His mind became placid. Problems dissolved. No-thing became the truth. He served his patients well and, without even knowing it. he was free from concern over life and death.
Then when lie visited Nan-in, his old teacher just smiled.

GEORGE CARLIN:

The future will soon be a thing of the past.

FRANCOIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD:

Virtue would not go far did not vanity escort her.

WILLIAM MARKIEWICZ:

When is work perceived as 'good?' Simply when each detail is accepted by its immediate neighbour, the neighbour is accepted by its neighbour forming a chain which we perceive as a total symphony. All this occurs simultaneously which distinguishes a musical symphony from its visual equivalent.

ME:

I have another me in sex.

popsatori . . . . .

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