The Gospel according to Zen

If you wish to know the road up the mountain,
Ask the man who goes back and forth on it.

Zenrin

The Cloud of Unknowing

And look that nothing remain in thy working mind but a naked intent stretching unto God -- not clothed in any special thought of God in himself or any of his works, but only that He is as He is...

One Day The People

"One Day The People Of America Will Get The Government They've Always Wanted.....And They're Not Going To Like It!"
Quote by Huey Long.  Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932.
 Taxes!     At first I thought this was funny...Then, I realized "How True it is!!"    Tax his land,  Tax his wage,  Tax his bed in which he lays.   Tax his tractor,  Tax his mule,  Teach him taxes is the rule.   Tax his cow,  Tax his goat,  Tax his pants,  Tax his coat.   Tax his ties,  Tax his shirts,  Tax his work,  Tax his dirt.   Tax his tobacco,  Tax his drink,  Tax him if he tries to think.   Tax his booze,  Tax his beers,  If he cries,  Tax his tears.   Tax his bills,  Tax his gas,  Tax his notes,  Tax his cash.   Tax him good and let him know  That after taxes, he has no dough.   If he hollers,  Tax him more,  Tax him until he's good and sore.   Tax his coffin,  Tax his grave,  Tax the sod in which he lays.   Put these words upon his tomb,  "Taxes drove me to my doom!"   And when he's gone,  We won't relax,  We'll still be after the inheritance TAX!!   Accounts Receivable Tax  Building Permit Tax  CDL License Tax  Cigarette Tax  Corporate Income Tax  Dog License Tax  Federal Income Tax  Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)  Fishing License Tax  Food License Tax  Fuel Permit Tax  Gasoline Tax  Hunting License Tax  Inheritance Tax  Inventory Tax  IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),  IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),  Liquor Tax,  Luxury Tax,  Marriage License Tax,  Medicare Tax,  Property Tax,  Real Estate Tax,  Service charge taxes,  Social Security Tax,  Road Usage Tax (Truckers),  Sales Taxes,  Recreational Vehicle Tax,  School Tax,  State Income Tax,  State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),  Telephone Federal Excise Tax,  Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax,  Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax,  Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax,  Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,  Telephone State and Local Tax,  Telephone Usage Charge Tax,  Utility Tax,  Vehicle License Registration Tax,  Vehicle Sales Tax,  Watercraft Registration Tax,  Well Permit Tax,  Workers Compensation Tax.  COMMENTS: Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago and there was prosperity, absolutely no national debt, the largest middle class in the world and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. What THE HELL Happened!!!!!!!!?????
 
Blame years of PC, Liberal, Socialist Politicians.  They know how to spend your money better than you do.  You of course, are too STUPID!
 
I'm not too stupid...not to vote you out of office.

Buddhas are human

Buddhas are human, they are not devas, they are not gods. They are enlightened men and women. But the point is that they are not afraid to be human, they are not afraid to let themselves participate in the pains, difficulties and struggles that naturally go with human existence. The only difference is--and it's almost an undetectable difference--it takes one to know one.

Zen...Alan Watts

the fish of reality is more like water--it always slips through the net. And in water you know when you get into it there's nothing to hang on to. All this universe is like water; it is fluid, it is transient, it is changing. And when you're thrown into the water after being accustomed to living on the dry land, you're not used to the idea of swimming. You try to stand on the water, you try to catch hold of it, and as a result you drown. The only way to survive in the water, and this refers particularly to the waters of modern philosophical confusion, where God is dead, metaphysical propositions are meaningless, and there's really nothing to hang on to, because we're all just falling apart. And the only thing to do under those circumstances is to learn how to swim.

Clementine Recognitions

Simon Magus asks Peter in the Simon Magus asks Peter in the Clementine Recognitions

Could not God have made us all good, so that we could not be anything else but virtuous? To which Peter replies with a statement of the ancient law of liberty; A foolish question, for if God made us unchangeably and immovably inclined to good, we would not really be good at all, since we couldn’t be anything else; and it would be no merit on our part that we were good, nor could we be given credit for doing what we did by necessity of nature. How can you call any act good that is not performed intentionally? In this world every man is given a fair chance to show his real desires.
Simon Magus then asks...@Did not the Creator know that those he created would do evil?
To which Peter replies; Certainly, He considered all the evil that would be among those whom he created; but as one who knew there was no other way to achieve the purpose for which they were created he went ahead. He did not draw back or hesitate, nor was he afraid of what would happen... Evil is forced on no one, it is only there for those who want it. No one comes under its sway save he who of his own free will deliberately subjects himself to it....We must bear wicked men with patience, brethren, knowing that God who could easily wipe them out, suffers them to carry on to the appointed day in which the deeds of all shall be judged...Why do we not bear with fortitude of spirit the wrongs they commit against us, when he who can do all things does not avenge himself for the wrongs they do Him?
Clementine Recognitions, II 23-25,
As Quoted in The World and The Prophets
Hugh Nibley

The Ancient Law of Liberty

Irenaeus said in the middle of the second century;

God made man free from the beginning. Now if God made some men good and some bad simply by nature, there would be nothing praiseworthy in their virtue or blameworthy in their vice,... God wants men to do good, but even the Gospel allows anyone who does not want to do good to do evil. To obey or disobey is in every man’s power...God forcing no man... The ancient law of liberty is, that God trusts men while on this earth to make their own choices while they trust Him alone to judge whether those choices have been good or bad.
Irenaeus, Contra Haereses IV, xxxvii, 1.
As Quoted in The World and the Prophets
Hugh Nibley

MUST READING

I agree 110% , and am passing on her sentiments because  it says all!
"Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it notstarted by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11,   2001?Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from ournation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania ?Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible,burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet? Well, I don't. I don't care at all.I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repentsfor incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East startcaring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.I'll care when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi tells the world he is sorry forhacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their FirstAmendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college-hazing incident, rest assured that I don't care.When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank that I don't care.When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed "special" food that is paid for by my tax dollars, iscomplaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care.And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and ---- you guessed it - - - I don't care ! ! ! ! !If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on. Sooner or later, it'll get to the people responsible for this ridiculous behavior! Should you choose the latter, then please don't complain when more atrocities committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great country.--"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made adifference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem."-- Ronald Reagan"If we ever forget that we're One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under." also by... Ronald Reagan

Islam in Muhammads Own Words

Islam in Muhammad's Own Words
Islam is a caustic blend of regurgitated paganism and twisted Bible stories. Muhammad, its lone prophet, conceived his religion solely to satiate his lust for power, sex, and money. He was a terrorist. And if you think these conclusions are shocking, wait until you see the evidence.
Critics of Prophet of Doom claim it is offensive, hatemongering, and unnecessarily violent. We agree—but we didn't write those parts. They came directly from Islam's scriptures. Over the course of these pages, we quote from almost every surah in the Qur'an—many are presented in their entirety. But more than that, we put each verse in the context of Muhammad's life, quoting vociferously from Islam's most trusted sources.

GOTO     www.prophetofdoom.net

While America Slept

While America Slept
...Islam Attacked

Wednesday night, the 13th of January 2005, a loving Christian family was brutally murdered inside their Jersey City home by hateful Muslims following Muhammad’s example and Allah’s orders. The victims were innocent of any crime and yet their throats were slit in barbaric fashion. Their bodies were bound and savagely mutilated. Then, to add insult to injury, jealous American Muslims gathered in the street outside the church to lob insults at the Christian families attending the funeral. Mourners, too sad to be angry, had kind words for the deeply religious family, especially young Sylvia, who was murdered a day before her Sweet 16 party.
The victims of the kind of violence a good Muslim is expected to display towards Islamic critics, were a Christian Egyptian American man, Hossam Armanious, 37, his wife, Amal Garas, also 37, and their two daughters, Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8. Their rotting corpses, soaked in pools of their own blood, were found in their Oakland Avenue home early Friday after relatives told police nobody had heard from them in days. A family member who viewed photos of the bloodbath said Sylvia seemed to have taken the most savage punishment. “When we saw the pictures, you could tell that they were hurt really, really bad in the face; especially Sylvia,” said Milad Garas, the high-school sophomore's great-uncle. “The heartless killer not only slit Sylvia's throat, but also sliced a huge gash in her chest and stabbed her in the wrist, where she had a tattoo of a Coptic cross.”
Look into Monica’s eyes and consider the demonic indoctrination and sadistic depravity required to murder and then mutilate this beautiful and precious girl. And while that is difficult, until every American can do this, and come to grips with the motivation for so many murders like this—Islam’s Satanic nature—holding the religion itself accountable for the acts of its most fundamental and jealous adherents, everyone who has died at the hand of a Muslim aboard planes, busses and ships, in hotels, nightclubs, office buildings and schools, will have died in vain. This may be another wake-up call, America. Are you listening, or are you going to push the snooze button on your alarm once again?
Investigators said each victim was bound, gagged, stabbed, and slashed in the neck and chest. Sylvia’s wrist was mutilated where she displayed a small Copt cross. This is indicative of an act of Islam. It is an act of terror. Members of Jersey City’s Coptic community—many of whom left Egypt like the Armanious family to escape religious threats—understand the connection between fundamental Islam and the murders of their friends and family. That sentiment was expressed loudly by one parishioner inside who began yelling at Muslims, including a sheik, who attended the service. “Islam is the killer,” he said over and over before he was dragged from the church by five police officers who hustled him into an unmarked police car and quickly drove away. Welcome to America where accountability and truth are now crimes.
Tensions were high even before the first copper-colored casket arrived, when, during a procession to the church from Journal Square, family members asked mourners to put away anti-Muslim protest signs. But emotions really boiled over in the moments after the wistful service when a skirmish broke out as the four black hearses adorned with the victims’ pictures were being loaded. Punches were thrown, people were shoved and police rushed in to break up the brawl that had moved up Bergen Avenue to a nearby parking garage.
Family friend, Henry Simon, 35, said of the tension, “The sheik came at the wrong time. It’s like spitting on their graves.” What Simon said was right. It is why I continue to be grieved by President Bush’s decision to have an Islamic Imam give the benediction at the National Cathedral ceremony to mourn the victims of the Islamic attack on September 11th. It was like asking Adolf Hitler to give the benediction for Auschwitz.
Note also this interesting detail buried at the end of the story: Investigators learned that a relative of the Armanious family had helped prosecutors in their case against Lynne Stewart, the lawyer charged with passing messages to followers of her client, blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the convicted terrorist ringleader responsible for the assignation of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and the initial car bombing of the World Trade Center. For those squeamish about blaming Islam for the acts of Islamic Jihadists, consider the fact that Sheik Rahman was Islam’s foremost authority on the Qur’an. He was senior professor of Qur’anic Studies at Islam’s most prestigious university, Al Azhar, inCairo, Egypt.

Complete and constant Integrity

“Complete and constant integrity is a great law of human conduct. There need to be some absolutes in life.”

President James E. Faust
Ensign, May 1982, 48

Old and Confused

Old and ConfusedFive million of our older Americans have not signed up yet for their Medicare, Part D, drug plan.  They are old and confused.  If they haven't signed up yet, the Government is not going to grant them an extension.However, 12 million illegal aliens are in our country; and we are going to allow them to stay, protest, procreate, receive support monies, attend schools, avoid paying income taxes, have our teachers take 300 hours ofESL (English as a Second Language) training at our expense, etc.   No wonder people in other countries think we are stupid as hell.

His Divine GraceA. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Founder Acharya ofThe International Society for Krishna Consciousness

Ogata Kenzan wrote:

Ogata Kenzan wrote this poem centuries ago:
Those who seek fame and profitLittle know the peace of the hills.Morning and evening the clear air blows,Between heaven and earth my life exists.My lungs expand, my body functions at ease.If I think of other places, nowhere attracts.If I think of this place, nowhere distracts.The moon waxes full, the pure winds blow.

Monsters exist

:"Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions . . . "Primo Levi

Pride

"And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.
For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?
Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?
Yea, why do ye build up your asecret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads?
Mormon 8:36-40

The fact

"The fact that there are countries in this world where the government can torture people in secret and without fear of courts is supposed to be a tragedy- not a convenience."Michael Kinsley

Fear thou not for I am with thee

1. Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right


2. As much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day. (Alma 38:5)


3. My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions... O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! ...O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever.” (2 Nephi 4:20, 33, 34)

Neal Maxwell said

Neal Maxwell said,
God, who oversees the interfacings of galaxies, stars, and worlds, asks us to confess His hand in our personal lives, too (see D&C 59:21)...  God is in the details! Just as the Lord knows all of His vast creations, He also knows and loves each in any crowd — indeed, He knows and loves each and all of mankind! (see 1 Nephi 11:17). Consider His tender salutations to Moses — ”I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight” (Exodus 33:12)...

I believe

I believe with all my heart that the Latter-day Saints, generally speaking, are good people. If we live by the principles of the gospel, we must be good people, for we will be generous and kind, thoughtful and tolerant, helpful and outreaching to those in distress. We can either subdue the divine nature and hide it so that it finds no expression in our lives, or we can bring it to the front and let it shine through all that we do.
There is room for improvement in every life. Regardless of our occupations, regardless of our circumstances, we can improve ourselves and while so doing have an effect on the lives of those about us.
– Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, 6 October 2002, Ensign, November 2002, p. 99