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Post by Smithee on Jun 20, 2012 9:46:04 GMT 10
The Master made sure the monastery library was well stocked with books on every conceivable subject - POLITICS, ARCHITECTURE, PHILOSOPHY, POETRY, AGRICULTURE, HISTORY, SCIENCE, PSYCHOLOGY, ART... and the section he himself used the most, FICTION.
His one refrain was, "God save us from people who do not THINK, THINK, THINK!"
There was nothing he feared more, he said, than the one-track mind, the one-book fanatic.
This puzzled the disciples for it was so out of tune with the NON-THINKING PERCEPTION, the NON-CONCEPTUAL AWARENESS that was the mainstay of the Master's teaching.
When asked directly, this was his ambiguous reply: "A thorn can be dislodged by means of another thorn, can't it?"
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Post by Smithee on Jun 21, 2012 15:00:59 GMT 10
The Master loved to tell this one on himself:
After his first child was born he went to the nursery and saw his wife standing over the baby’s crib. Silently he watched her as she gazed at the sleeping infant. In her face he saw wonder, incredulity, rapture, ecstasy. Moved to tears, he tiptoed over to her, put an arm round her waist and whispered, “I know exactly what you must feel, my dear.”
Startled into consciousness his wife blurted out, “Yes. For the life of me I don’t see how they can make a crib like that for twenty bucks.”
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Post by Smithee on Jun 22, 2012 10:36:04 GMT 10
There was nothing pompous about the master. Wild, hilarious laughter prevailed each time he spoke, to the dismay of those who were solemn about their spirituality - and themselves.
Said one disillusioned visitor, "The man's a clown!"
"No, no," said a disciple. "You've missed the point: a clown gets you to laugh at him, a Master gets you to laugh at yourself."
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Post by Smithee on Jun 23, 2012 17:14:56 GMT 10
A visitor, in the course of explaining his religion to the Master, said, "We believe we are God's chosen people."
"What does that mean?" said the Master.
"That God chose us from among all the peoples of the earth."
"I think I can guess who, from among all the people of the earth, made that discovery," said the Master dryly.
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Post by Smithee on Jun 24, 2012 17:42:12 GMT 10
The Master never let a statement about God go unchallenged. All God-statements were poetical or symbolical expressions of the Unknowable; people, however, foolishly took them as literal descriptions of the divine.
When the preacher said, "This much I know of God, that he is wise and good." The Master countered with, "Then why does he stand by helplessly in the face of evil?"
Said the preacher, "How should I know? What do you think I am, a mystic?"
Later the Master regaled his disciples with this Jewish tale:
"Two men sat sipping tea in silence. After a while one said, 'Life is like a bowl of lukewarm soup.'
'Like a bowl of lukewarm soup?' asked the other. 'Why?'
'How should I know? What do you think I am, a philosopher?' "
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Post by Smithee on Jun 25, 2012 13:10:46 GMT 10
A disciple, in his reverence for the Master, looked upon him as God incarnate.
"Tell me, Oh Master," he said, "why you have come to this world."
"To teach fools like you to stop wasting their time worshiping Masters," was the answer he got.
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Post by Smithee on Jun 26, 2012 9:47:55 GMT 10
One night the Master led his disciples into the open fields and a star-studded sky.
Then, pointing towards the stars, he said, "Now concentrate on my finger, everyone."
They got the point.
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Post by Smithee on Jun 27, 2012 11:23:51 GMT 10
Enlightenment, said the Master when asked about it, is an awakening.
“Right now you are asleep and do not know it.”
Then he went on to tell them of the recently married woman who complained about her husband’s drinking habilts.
“If you knew he drank, why did you marry him?” she was asked.
“I had no idea he drank,” said the girl, “till one night he came home sober!”
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Post by Smithee on Jun 28, 2012 11:35:12 GMT 10
"Congratulate me!"
"Why?"
"At last I've found a job that offers excellent prospects for advancement."
Said the Master somberly, "You were a sleep-walker yesterday. You are sleepwalking today. You will sleepwalk till the day you die. What sort of advancement is that?"
"It was financial advancement I was talking about not spiritual advancement."
"Ah! I see. A sleepwalker with a bank account that he isn't awake to enjoy!"
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Post by Smithee on Jun 29, 2012 9:33:09 GMT 10
When the Master was a boy at school, a classmate treated him with persistent cruelty.
Now, older and contrite, he came to the monastery and was received with open arms.
One day he brought up the subject of his former cruelty but the Master seemed not to recall it.
Said the visitor, "Don't you remember?"
Said the Master, "I distinctly remember forgetting it!" so they both melted in innocent laughter.
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