We went to our favorite Japanese restaurant and it has an extensive vegetarian menu.

We went to our favorite Japanese restaurant and it has an extensive vegetarian menu.
It was as usual outstanding,
the rice was perfect,
the vegetables in the sushi roll just amazing.
The chef had a new one;
avocado, that was sublime.
The wasabi cleared the nose.
The next plate was also sushi, with asparagus tips all sticking out, the same length, like soldiers standing to attention .
We sat at the counter where the chef prepares the food.
I asked the chef, "how do you do this so perfect, every time and don't you get sick and bored with the repetition?"
He joined us for tea after he had stopped serving customers.
His answer to my question was as surprising as his food and the message I got was a dharma.
He said, "I don't get bored with the repetition."
"The meal might look the same to you, but no two meals are the same, no two pieces of sushi are the same, no two plates are the same ."
"Everything I do is vibrant unprecedented and unrepeatable."
"You think they are the same, they even look the same."
"To me," he said "they are all different."
"This is because I am not In a habitual thought pattern.
I don't think "same old same old",
"I don't think this is boring ,
this is same as yesterday and will be tomorrow ."
"With that thought my food will be stale and old in a few days.
Most people get into a routine of doing something once and repeating it a thousand times until the mind becomes numb."
He said
"I don't think this way."
"Every sushi is different to me .
Every mouthful full of love,
full of flavor."
When I heard this it was like a thunderbolt in my head.
I knew what was meant when we become enlightened on the spot.
In zen, (cha an) there is a teaching;
I Chi Go , I Chi E
(each ee go, each ee ay)
In Japanese this means ;
"One time one meeting".
"This means that everything in this life should be unprecedented and irreplaceable.
Everything should be fresh and new and vibrant
Every meeting unique.
It will not occur again.
Each moment precious.
It will not occur again .
All encounters ,
every breath ,
every prayer ,
will never be the same again.
They may seem the same,
It all depends on our way of thought."
When I first heard this I thought it sounded logical,
but defied common sense .
How can everything be new every time?
Then I started to practice and found new tastes, new sounds, new smells, new feelings, that I never had before.
When we start to practice
I Chi Go, I Chi E
"one time. one meeting"
like the sushi chef,
we suddenly free ourselves from habitual thought patterns and feelings.
We allow our world to reveal itself to us as it really is and reveal who we really are.
Vibrant unprecedented and unrepeatable .
We are not all the same.
If we are treated as all the same, it would be a very boring world.
It is not the samenesses that are important, but the differences that tell us who we are.
Who we really are is vibrant,
unprecedented and irreplaceable .

Nathan
http://www.dharmamaster.com









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"I am so lucky"

I am so lucky, every time I go on a seeking journey, 'stuff' seems to follow me.
On this trip the 'stuff' is of a cultural and  philosophical  nature.

My heroes are everywhere.

Every town and city I visit there is a hero worth knowing.

The list would fill pages and that is only with the names not the deeds; I try not to get carried away but I am now in an area that some two thousand six hundred years ago Laozi walked and gave us the Tao Te Ching and the teaching of Wu Wei, an important concept in Taoism, that literally means non-action or non-doing.

In the Tao te Ching, Laozi explains that beings (or phenomena) that are wholly in harmony with the Tao, behave in a completely natural way.

As the planets revolve around the sun, they "do" this revolving, but without "doing" it.

As trees grow, they simply grow without trying to grow. Thus knowing how and when to act is not knowledge in the sense that one would think, "now I should do this," but rather just doing it, we just do the natural thing.

The goal of spiritual practice for the human being is, according to Laozi,
the attainment of this natural way of behaving.

Wu may be translated as, not to have, or without;


Wei may be translated as do, act, serve as, govern or effort. The literal meaning of wu wei is "without action", "without effort", or "without control", and is often included in the paradox wei wu wei: "action without action" or "effortless doing".
The practice of wu wei and the efficacy of wei wu wei are fundamental tenets in Chinese thought and have been mostly emphasized by the Taoist school.
One cannot actively pursue wu wei.

It is more a mere observation of one's behavior after we have accepted ourselves for who we are.

There is another less commonly referenced sense of wu wei;


"action that does not involve struggle or excessive effort".

In this instance, wu means "without" and Wei means "effort".

The concept of "effortless action" is a part of Taoist Internal martial arts such as T'ai chi ch'uan, Baguazhang and Xing Yi.

It follows that wu wei complies with the main feature and distinguishing characteristic of Taoism, that of being natural. To apply wu wei to any situation is to take natural action.

In the original Taoist texts, wu wei is often associated with water and its yielding nature. Although water is soft and weak, it has the capacity to erode even solid stone (for example, the Grand Canyon) and move mountains (for example, landslides).
Water is without will (that is, the will for a shape), though it may be understood to be opposing wood, stone, or any solid aggregated material that can be broken into pieces.

Due to its nature water may potentially fill any container, assume any shape; given the Water cycle, water may potentially go "anywhere", even into the minutest holes, both metaphorical and actual. Droplets of water, when falling as rain, gather in watersheds, flowing into and forming rivers of water, joining the proverbial sea: this is the nature of water.

Several chapters of the most important Taoist text, the Tao Te Ching, attributed to Laozi, allude to "diminishing doing" or "diminishing will" as the key aspect of the sage's success. Taoist philosophy recognizes that the Universe already works harmoniously according to its own ways; as a person exerts their will against or upon the world, they disrupt the harmony that already exists. This is not to say that a person should not exert will.

Rather, it is how one acts in relation to the natural processes already extant.
The how, the Tao of intention and motivation, that is key.

The Sage is occupied with the unspoken and acts without effort. Teaching without verbosity, producing without possessing, creating without regard to result, claiming nothing,

Wu Wei has also been translated as "creative quietude," or the art of letting-be. This does not mean a dulling of the mind; rather, it is an activity undertaken to be the Tao within all things and to cultivate oneself to its "way."

The concept of wu wei is often described as performing a selfless act, but this merely exposes the background of the writer. Other religions have selfless acts and “doing good” as part of their belief systems. In Taoist teaching, however, “good” is unknowable.

A selfless act can only be performed by someone in an egoless state. Every act performed by someone in the usual way of things has some kind of reward attached whether it is financial, power, love, status, or just feeling good about oneself.
All these things are ego re-inforcing. To perform a selfless act one must let go of one's ego and pass into an enlightened state of consciousness. This is called wu wei – the state of doing without doing. Here every act is selfless for the ego has ceased to exist. There is no 'I' making decisions and the outcome is always perfect.

In Neijia, (internal forms of martial arts) one of the aims is to be able to fight in the state of wu wei. There is no ego wishing to aggrandise itself by punishing the opponent and every move is performed effortlessly before one has time to think. One blocks every move by one's opponents yet for all parties involved you might be playing with clouds (it's painless and without harmful consequence).

As one diminishes doing—here 'doing' means those intentional actions taken to benefit us or actions taken to change the world from its natural state and evolution—one diminishes all those actions committed against the Tao, the already present natural harmony. As such one begins to cultivate Tao, one also becomes more in harmony with Tao; and, according to another great ancient Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi, (Laotzi's main disciple) attains a state of Ming, or 'clear seeing'.

It is in the state of Ming that the Taoist is in full harmony with Tao, and 'having arrived at this pointless point of non-action, there is nothing that is left undone.'

It is upon achievement of this Chinese equivalent to 'enlightenment' that a sage begins to perform wei wu wei, or 'action without action.'
Thus the sage will be able to work in harmony with Tao to accomplish what is needed, and, working in perfect harmony with the Tao, leave no trace of having done it.

An example of active non-action using wu wei, would be to teach in such a way that no course of action is dictated to a student (they are just told raw facts for use, and left to their own creative devices), so they assume that they have been taught nothing, that is, until their learnings have been integrated in their lived experience.

An example of this teaching that comes close to our understanding, I came across the following;

.......The more laws and restrictions there are,


the poorer people become.


The sharper weapons,


the more trouble in the land.


The more clever and ingenious people are,


the stranger things happen.


The more rules and regulations,


the more thieves and robbers.


"Laozi"

He reputedly lived around the sixth century BC

Everything  changes

 but humanity's behavior

 stays the same



Nathan

One last time"

......One last time......

I am in China sitting in the same spot where my heroes once lived, wrote and meditated.

All of a sudden, he appeared.

He was dressed differently with his robes pulled around him like a shroud, his head covered in a cowl of faded yellow robe.

He acknowledged me with a slight movement of his head, almost a nod. I thought I heard him say, "We meet for the last time seeker, this, our last time, you must listen well."

The silent one then told me the following;

....Master Lieh Tzu asked gatekeeper Yin,
"Only the perfect man can walk under water and not drown, can walk on fire and not burn and can pass over a multitude of lives without fear, how is this possible?"

Gatekeeper Yin replied,
"It is because he preserves his original breath and this has nothing to do with his knowledge, his work, his persistence, or his bravery."
"Everything though has a face, form, sound and colour, but these are just appearances."

"So now I ask you, gatekeeper, how is it possible that this thing, or that thing, are separated from each other?"
"Indeed why should each thing be viewed as the first of all beings?"

Gatekeeper Yin continued, "They are just forms and colours and nothing more."
"However everything arises from what is formless and descends into that which is changeless. If we grasp and follow this, using it to its fullest extent, nothing can stand in our way!"
"It means being able to reside within limits, which have no limit, be secluded within boundaries, which have no beginning, go to where both the beginning and the end of all life is; we then must combine essential nature, nourish our original breath, harmonize virtue and, by following this path, commune with the origins of all life. We will then guard our unity with Heaven, and now our spirit will be without fault, nothing can get inside and attack us."

"We must retreat to the serenity of Heaven and as a result nothing can cause us harm. We must recognize that everything under Heaven is united."
"It is possible to get rid of the rigors of punishment and execution, of chaos, violence and war, this is the Tao.
However, we must not cast aside the Heavenly, and ignore the human aspect;
only then will we draw closer to the realization of Truth."

"This is a Dharma I share with you, seeker. It is from the writing of Chung Tzu who lived in this place over two thousand years ago. I thought it appropriate to the situation all face right now."

The silent one then said, "Understand what I have just said and you too will become the perfect man."

With that, he disappeared.

Nathan

I am about to leave on my search once again.

I am about to leave on my search once again.
I try to leave ego behind and remain humble with all I meet.
This story reminds me;

......A traveller came in search of the most famous Zen Master Roshi.
He had come so far and was tired and grumpy.
He stopped to ask a Monk where the famous Roshi lived and explained how far he had come and how famous he had heard the Master was.
The Monk said
"You mean to tell me you have travelled so far to see this man? What a waste of your time.
I know this man personally and he is a zero. You have wasted your time and money on silly rumours."
The visitor was outraged.
"You lowly despicable man, what do you know.
You obviously have no understanding of anything spiritual or holy."
Very upset the traveller stormed off.
Later that day, he finally found the great Masters home and having been granted an appointment, was brought into his office.
He nearly fainted in shame and remorse.
The man who he was so rude to in the street was sitting in front of him and was none other than the great Roshi himself.
With tears in his eyes, he begged forgiveness.
"Why are you so upset, there is no need to apologise,
"the great man said,
"I told you the simple truth,
and everything you said was also true."
The great man then said,
"Don't let the kharma of your action take hold of you and make you regret our meeting.
Let go.
Be conscious,
Be responsible,
Buy me lunch."

Nathan


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The Divine's existence

 The Divine's Existence

 I was asked recently if I believe in a divine spirit,  a something, or someone, that looks after us. 

Some sort of spark within us.

An entity that guides and guards, that ordains destinies.

My answer is that we doubt, we don't trust,

We suffer.

We blame, shame and punish.

For the few of us, 

when we find The Divine, 

our lives change.

A little boy was walking through the forest and saw a leaf fall from a tree.

He was so shocked,

a leaf should be on a branch not on the ground.

He said to the leaf,

 "why are you on the ground, not on the branch?" 

The leaf replied, Ddon't ask me, the branch shook and I fell.  Ask the branch."

"Branch, why did you shake the leaf off and cause it to fall?" asked the boy.

The branch said, "It's not my fault, the tree swayed violently and I shook. Ask the tree."

The boy now asked the tree, "Why tree, did you sway causing the branch to shake the leaf off and fall on the ground?"

The tree replied, "It's not my fault. The wind blew really hard and caused me to sway and the branch to shake the leaf to the ground. Ask the wind."

So now the boy asks the wind, "Wind, why blow so hard to cause the tree to sway the branch and cause the leaf to fall?"

"Not my fault, I get my instructions from an Angel, go ask the Angel."

The boy gets down on his knees and cries out, "Angel tell me why you asked the wind to blow?"

A beautiful Angel now stands in front of the little boy, "I get my instructions from The Divine One and I just do as I am told." said the Angel.

"Divine, I don't want to trouble you with such a small matter, but why did you ask the Angel to ask the wind to blow,

to move the tree,

to shake the branch,

to cause the leaf to fall?"

"Look under the leaf."

The Divine One said.

The boy looked under the leaf and there was a small worm.

"If the leaf had not have fallen,  the worm would have been burnt by the sun. That is why I started the whole thing." Said The Divine.

And the little boy knew of  The Divine's existence!

Nathan

A wealthy , arrogant, young merchant came to visit a famous Monk.

A wealthy , arrogant, young merchant came to visit a famous Monk.
People who came to the Monk usually came to ask for guidance in their service to the Buddha,
or for advice and blessing in their material affairs.
But this visitor lost no time in telling the Monk that he had no special needs or problems that needed neither intervention, or blessing.
In fact, business had bought him to the area and he had heard so many stories about this famous Monk, his curiosity led him to see for himself.

"Well if there is nothing I can help you with, at least stay a while and listen to a story"
The man agreed and the Holy Master began the story;

"Once upon a time there were two childhood friends who were inseparable as they grew up, however as they became adults their ways parted.
One became wealthy and the other was very poor.
In order to save his family from hunger the poor man sought out his childhood friend and asked for help.
The wealthy man did not hesitate.
"Didn't we always promise each other that we would remain friends forever and share everything we have?"
He then offered his friend half his fortune.
As so often happens with the passing of time, the wheels of fortune reversed and the one who was wealthy now became poor and the one whom he had helped, became even more wealthy.
Confident that he would receive the same help he gave his friend, he asked his now wealthy friend for help.
His friend however refused to part with anything, not even food.
Time again witnessed a reversal of fortunes, so that the poor man became rich and the rich man became poor as each returned to their original situations.
It happened again of course that the poor man felt the hopelessness of despair and went to his friend for help and to beg his forgiveness.
He was readily forgiven, but this time he was asked to sign an agreement that if he were in need of help again, the friend would share his blessings with him.
In the passage of time, once again, the two men experienced reversals of fortune .
True to form, the man who had signed the agreement refused to honor it and his friend and his family found themselves homeless and penny less .
Years passed and the two men died.
When they came before the heavenly court to account for their lives, the mean spirit of the selfish mans life weighed heavily against him and he was condemned to eternal punishment.
The kind and forgiving friend was sent to his eternal reward in paradise.
However the good friend could not accept the destiny of his friends soul and asked the Heavenly court to reconsider as he still loved him and didn't wish to see him suffer on his account.
The heavenly court was in an uproar, this was an unusual case and the only way to solve it was to return both men back to earth so the sinful one could have one last chance to atone for his egotistical behavior.
So the sinful man was returned as a wealthy prideful merchant and the other as a common beggar.
And so it came to pass that the righteous beggar knocked on the door of the rich man begging for food.
He had not eaten for days and he was close to starving but was rudely and callously turned away.
And so the beggar died..

At this point of the story the rich man asked the Master to stop
"No more", he cried with a lump in his throat.
"Yesterday I turned away a beggar from my door and later I heard he was found dead in the street.
Was he the beggar on your story?"
No answer was necessary.
By now the tears were flowing freely and the man was overcome with remorse and repentance.
He was desperate to know what to do to make amends for his shame.
The Master explained that his former friend, the beggar,
had a widow and fatherless children, and that he was to go and give three quarters of his fortune to the family in order to atone for his sins"

Karma does work in mysterious ways.........

Nathan










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The candle---

The candle---
I am reminded of a great poet,
a famous man.
He wrote about beauty.
He was the court poet,
poet to the King and lived in the palace.
All about him was romance and beauty.
Suddenly he ran out of poems, he became like a river without water, he felt dry..
He turned to the books in the palace, the old writings, looking, seeking for words that would help to start the flow.
The poet had only one candle in his room and the light was dim, his eyes hurt and even in the old books he couldn't find words about beauty.
All about war, hatred, hell,
lots of burning in hell.
Tired and frustrated he blew out the candle and couldn't believe his eyes.
There, suddenly from the window and under the door, the moonlight poured in.
The poet rushed outside and was transported into another world.
He looked at the moon,
at the silence of the night,
the reflections on the river.
He saw the dark forrest behind the silvery river.
This was beauty.
The poet had been looking into a book for beauty and here it was, waiting just outside the door.
The small yellow candle light had prevented him from seeing the magic of the night.
He had been occupied with books and had completely forgotten the beauty of a full moon night.
He threw books away and that was the last day he thought about beauty.
Thinking won't help, writing about it is not enough,
beauty is all around us.
We have to be available to it.
We must blow out the candle,
the small candle of the ego.
Then The Divine can enter.

Nathan.


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With love