Generosity

"Generosity,Dana, is one of the paramitas, or transcendent actions...The aim is not to try and achieve perfection, therefore it is better to see paramitas in terms of transcendence-as going beyond...Generosity means not possessing.One can practice generosity toward oneself,because the point here is to free oneself from (this) possessiveness, this continual wanting...Then, of course, the next step is to giveaway one's possessions... It does not mean that you should not own anything at all or that you should give away what you have immediately... It isn't a question of not seeing the value of possessions, the point is that it should be equally easy to give them away...It is... giving up this concept of possession.For there is a hunger in action."

...from this foundation- one develops "a noble heart, a compassionate heart"... "It does not refer to kindness alone, but to fundamental compassion, selfless compassion".

"...with giving things away, no matter how small a thing in terms of value, one must be fully involved in the giving so that a part of one's ego is also given away. Through that one reaches the paramita, the transcendental act, which is something beyond... Then one is not conscious of 'virtue' and giving away things in an effort to be 'religious', and one is not conscious of receiving any particular reward of good merit."
-Extracted from Meditation in Action by Chogyam Trungpa

Food for Thought

Food for Thought

"I found television very educational. Every time someone switches it on, I go into another room and read a good book."- Groucho Marx

I found 2 written on the t-shirts:
Find your Nietzsche in life-STUDY PHILOSOPHY and
Waitng for Bordeaux.

Zen Buddhism

What are the concerns of a Zen student?
Robert Aiken, author of the book "Taking the Path of Zen", he wrote- first, being alive is an important responsibility;second,we have little time to fulfill that responsibility; and third,rigorous practice is necessary for fulfillment.". He wrote further:"Delusions and attachments consisting of sel-centered and conceptual thinking obscure the living fact. The Zen path is devoted to clearing away these obstructions and seeing into true nature....Zen is noetic...it originates in the mind.It is not intellectual,but involves realization,the purest gnosis of 'just this' ".

Harmony

I just finished reading John Hersey's A Single Pebble.One of the passages I underlined-...almost perfect concord between perception and action.What could be more civilized than that harmony?-
The short novel was a tender, simple story of self-discovery of the engineer in the story.

Keys to Creativity

I am reading Hugh MacLeod's book- Ignore Everybody and 39 other Keys to Creativity.Number 2 key-The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours.He writes-"It was so liberating to be doing something that didn't have to impress anybody, for a change. It was so liberating to be free of ambition for a change."
Number 3 key-Put the hours in. He writes-"Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. Ninety percent of what separates successful people and failed people is time, effort, and stamina."