Wednesday, January 30, 2013

On Living ...

Photo from http://evelynrodriguez.typepad.com/
"The Buddha was instructing a young nobleman, who had asked how he could know that the Buddha was teaching truth.  The Buddha explained that what he taught was a way to discover truth for yourself.  Still, the young man wanted to know if following this path would lead to a happy afterlife.

'If you had been shot in the arm with an arrow,' the Buddha said, 'would you have it plucked out quickly?  Or instead, would you inquire from whence came the arrow?  Was it from an enemy archer or an accident from your own men?  Would you inquire if the archer was an untouchable, of military class, or a noble?  Would you then require a list of his ancestors and parentage?  Would you seek to know the materials that made up the bow and the arrow?  Would you only then, after gathering all these facts, pluck the arrow from your arm?'

'No master,' replied the young man.  'But I do not understand your meaning.'

'My meaning is clear,' spoke the Enlightened One.  'Life does not give us time to prepare all things before taking action.  We must take action as best we can, as we need to, and learn all else we need while we are ourselves in action.  Don't put off doing what you can and what you know is important just because you do not know the unknowable.'
--from the Shaolin Grandmaster's Text

Today, let go of the how and the preparation ... live into the laughter and fullness of your life!  Breathe into the vibration of your deepest purpose, and let that be enough to carry you today.


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