Thank you...

Thank you...

It's been a joyous fifteen years
working with Master Jodi at her Feng Shui shop at the Queen Victoria Market.
After much deliberation, Master Jodi has finally sold the shop, to a most capable and talented couple, Katina and Allan Hamilton.

I thank all the wonderful friends and customers that I have been blessed to meet through the shop, and feel graced by your presence.

From the 'bag lady' who visits twice a week to remind me that 'they' are watching.
To the lady who asked 'how much are the $5 Buddhas?'
To the man who just stands and stares at the ceiling for a full three minutes and then leaves.
To the miscreants and addicts,
I love you all.

My friends new and old;
A huge thank you for keeping me young and entertained.

To Master Jodi for allowing me to help in the shop 'Without Pay'

I thank the Market for all its heritage, tradition and a seemingly total lack of management, albeit they have been most kind to us.

Finally to the amazing young Chinese helpers, who without your help and guidance I would not have had the cultural knowledge.

We are blessed to live in a society that encompasses most beliefs and religions.
It is in this world that we have stood out as a beacon for Feng Shui and Chinese culture.

To the wonderful folk who have taken over our work, Katina and Allan, may you be guarded and guided.

May you all be as blessed,
as we have, with the joy and happiness, working in this great environment.

Thank you, and please keep in touch through email or Facebook.
With Metta
Nathan





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Attachment.....

Attachment.....

We are going through massive changes right now.
Jodi's business has been sold and the last day is this Sunday.
Our home of fourteen years has also been sold and we leave on Monday for overseas.

The cleaning out in our life, of what's unnecessary, has been most rewarding. The feeling of letting go of attachments has given us great relief.

Of course our friends and family are now offering advice of what we should do next.

One friend advised that we should cleanse our minds of panic of not having a base to call home.
This they determined would be achieved by prayer.
Another said we should try meditation.
This clears the path, they said.
So in answer to all those caring sharing folk, I offer the following;

Attachment....
The purpose of prayer, meditation, or going to a Temple of any faith, is to free ourselves from our agitated uncontrolled state of mind.
We only free ourselves when we stop attaching ourselves to things that happen.
When we release the delusions, the fears, the past or the future, then peace prevails.
We believe we receive peace and harmony in the presence of The Divine or some other entity other than ourselves.
...................

So, there was a wealthy man who had three sons and he loved them dearly.
He didn't know who to entrust his business to when he leaves his present life.
He was wealthy for a reason,
he was clever.
He gathered his sons together and told them;
"Here is a room, empty, absolutely empty.
Please fill it, to represent how you will run my business.
The one who does it to my satisfaction, will take over when I am gone."

The first son, the eldest, filled the room with earth.
He told his father that this represented his earthiness.

The second, middle son, filled the room with paper.
He told his father that this represented the money he would make.

The father said to the first son "thank you, your earth represents objects of clutter, earthiness, but it is messy.
Clutter leaves a home empty and it loses it's attractiveness with time."

To the second son, he said
"thank you, your paper represents stocks, bonds, shares, but has no real relationship to family.
On paper, you are a millionaire, in real terms, you have no friends, no true joy,
a lonely life.

The youngest son had not filled the room with anything but a candle.
When the father saw this,
he was most pleased.
He said, "thank you my true wise son.
You know how to fill a vacuum.
All emptiness needs light,
a candle of light,
a candle of joy.
The candle of inner peace,
to fill our homes and lives with light and joy and love."

The lesson we learn from this Dharma is not to fill our lives with attachment to anything,
other than light, joy and love.

Nathan.


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A Kings Dream........

A Kings Dream........

One night, in a dream,
the king saw death.
He was so afraid,
he asked death;
"Why are you in my dream,
why are you frightening me?"
Death replied; "I have come to tell you that tomorrow at sunset I will come to get you, so get ready and it's out of compassion I tell you, so you have time to prepare."

The king was so shocked,
that in the middle of the night,
he called his ministers and asked them to find people who could interpret the dream.
The king asked them what could be done as time is short and maybe the dream is true.

So the dream interpreters and scholars came with big books, and started to discuss,
dispute and argue.
The sun was already up and the king was getting more worried by the minute.

An old trusted servant came to the king and whispered;
"Don't be foolish your majesty,
these scolars will never find the answer, they will argue for ever.
I suggest you leave the palace since death visited you here,
if you are not here, then death may not find you.
By sunset you can be far away."

The logic seemed right.
So he left the palace.

The king had a fast horse and he travelled far, and by sunset he had reached a beautiful tree.

He patted the horse and said
"You did well and we have come so far, death will never find us here."
As he was patting his horse,
the king felt somebody standing behind him.
He turned and he saw death laughing.
"Why are you laughing,"
asked the king?
Death answered,
"I was worried because you were destined to die under this tree and I wondered how you would get here in time.
Your horse did well.
I came to you in your dream last night, as I wanted you to escape from the palace.
You have come so far and only one day left, your horse did well."
As death said this, he touched both king and horse, and they passed into their next life.
......................

Wherever we go, death is waiting for us, in all directions,
in all places.
We know this is unavoidable, but the mind starts to spin some stupid ways to avoid death.
We want our lives to last forever,
in perfect health, with lots of money.

Our prayers go out to all misguided souls who do not follow the way of natural occurrence.

We must realise we are guarded and guided.

The more we practice and cultivate, the happier and more successful our lives become and death does not enter our thoughts.

Thanks to our practice,
all is well.

Nathan.





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Some Zen....

Some Zen....

Some fifteen years ago David Bell wrote a funny inspirational book of Zenisms.
Great book.

A young monk walked up and down the bank of a wide swiftly flowing river deciding how to cross.
He noticed a great Zen master on the other side.
He cried out to the wise master;
"Great teacher, how shall I get to the other side of the river?"
The master called back;
"You are already on the other side of the river!"

Thanks David.
Nathan


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My calendar....

My calendar....

I have a Zen calendar that gives daily inspiration.
Today is particularly apt.

"A Hasidic Rabbi, talking about daybreak, the time for morning prayers, asked his students how they knew when night ends and day begins.

'It is when you can see an animal in the distance and tell if it is sheep or a dog.'
'No' said the Rabbi.
'Is it when you can see the lines on your hand?'
'No' came the answer.
'Is it when you see a tree and can tell if it is a fig or pear?'
'No' said the Rabbi.
"You are all wrong."

"It is when you can look on the face of any man or woman and see that they are your brother or sister.
Until then it is still night."
Hasidic Mondo
Nathan



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"A Monks power"....

"A Monks power"....

I don't know if this story is true, or not.
The Monks that I am privileged to know do not have any of the powers in this story.
On the other hand,
maybe they do,
and maybe I need to talk to a few of them about my dreams.....

A most worthy follower of Buddha, who was compassionate and loving, explained to a Monk his most dire financial problems.
He had been very wealthy, but through bad investments had lost the lot.
Now, he explained, he was in big trouble as he not only had to pay back his creditors, but also marry off his daughter.

"My advice is that you should buy a lottery ticket," the Monk told him.
The follower told the Monk that he didn't doubt for a moment that he could arrange anything including a lottery win, and he would wait till the end of the month to pick up his winnings. However he was slightly skeptical of how he would organize the win.

The Monk told him he would fix everything through the Grace of the Universe.

So he bought the ticket and told the ticket seller that the Monk had guaranteed him a win and he would be back for the money.
He then went to the local inn to stay the night before going home.

Staying at the same inn was a wealthy merchant.
That night the merchant had a dream about a Monk having guaranteed a lottery win and that he should exchange his worthless ticket with the winning one.
The merchant asked his servant to find the Buddhist to swap tickets.

The merchant's deal was refused even when offered a few gold coins as well as the ticket.
After much talk the merchant finally offered one thousand gold coins.
Our friend of course had to accept, and so the tickets changed hands.

Our Buddhist friend returned home and married off his daughter in grand style.
At the end of the month the ticket that the merchant swapped won the lottery.

The compassionate Buddhist decided to visit the Monk and ask what happened, and how a worthless ticket could win so much money.
The Monk explained that he had asked the Master of Dreams to visit the merchant and convince him to swap tickets.
"I also saw the merchant give you a thousand coins to marry off your daughter, and after paying your creditors you also donated a great deal of your winnings to the Temple",
said the Monk.

The Buddhist went home most pleased with his donation to the Temple and he became more prosperous than he had ever been before.

"Thank you to the Universe for showing us that even our dreams can be organized by an enlightened Monk."

Nathan



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A story of re birth:..

A story of re birth:..

(My thanks to Fred whose birthday bought back memories of our time together in Fang)

Everything we say,
think and do,
effects our future.

An old man came to the Temple with two ladies.
One was aged about sixty five, the other fifteen.
It was assumed the elder woman was his wife and the child his daughter.

The man then began to discuss with the head Monk his plans to build a meditation hall.
He said he needed to build this hall within one day of his death.
He said that his death was not far off and he had been told this by his first wife.
When he said this,
he pointed to the young girl.

"One moment,"
said the Monk,
"How can this girl be your first wife and the old woman your second?"

And so the old man began to tell the following Dharma:

"This young girl was my first real love and we married when she was fifteen.
I was a wealthy merchant and we were very happy.
I loved her dearly and she was most beautiful and I cared for her every need.
There was however a problem.
She liked to steal things.

We would go out to friends houses and she would steal from them.
I did not know of course as the saying "love is blind" is true.

She would also go into our rice fields and when the harvest was ready and the bundles of rice were placed neatly, she would send our workers next door to steal their rice."

After a moment of silence, he was too upset to continue and the girl
spoke.

"I was happy with him for some twelve years, but one day when walking to the fields, I had a feeling I was about to die.

I was wearing two heavy gold chains my husband had given to me as a wedding present.

I decided to bury them under the foot of a large tree beside the workers hut by the rice field.

And so I died and went to hell.

In hell they told me I had been so bad I had to spend one hundred years before I could be reborn.
My husband of course did not know I had gone to hell.

He missed me so badly he gave a large donation to the Temple in my name.

The head of the hell realm told me that because of his merit I had been given twenty years off my time in hell.

My husband then built a school in my name and again I received a twenty year deduction.

This happened twice more and the head of hell said I had to only serve twenty years for my wrong doing,
not one hundred.

My husbands merit had earned me eighty years off my sentence.

When I finished the twenty years,
I was told I was to be reborn in a town near my husbands home.
When I turned fifteen I was to marry him again and look after him in his old age.

I was told that he was to build a meditation hall in one day after his death.

And so I was reborn.

When I turned twelve,
I started to remember the past and I would go and stare at my husband.

He had now remarried and it made his second wife uncomfortable to have a beautiful young girl stare at her husband.

They thought me mad.
It became worse when I started to tell the people at the village and my school, that I am here to marry an old man who is already married.

On my fifteenth birthday,
I went to see my husband and told him of the gold chains.

Of course I looked and sounded familiar to him and when he finally decided to dig, I was happy to say not only found the chains, but said he would re marry me.

So now we are here to offer and gain merit by building the hall."

The merchant passed away a few years later, and a day after he passed, the meditation hall was built.

The girl died within the week and both were sent straight to heaven.
She to be ordained and to continue to help those afflicted and he to become an Arhat .
(perfect person or saint)

This story was told to me by my Dharma Master,
as was told to him,
as the truth,
by his Master who met the merchant and his two wives at his Temple.

Nathan








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