IOU - Hard Work

Buddha and his disciples begged for their food.

One day a rich man was very rough with Buddha and told him off by saying, "Aren't you ashamed that you beg? You don't believe in hard work like I do. You are lazy and depend on others for food. Tell me why I must give you something?"

Buddha replied, "I do a lot of hard work much harder than others do."

The rich man said, 'But I don't see that."

Buddha, "I work very hard to train my mind to remain empty but fully attentive. It is very hard work. Try to do it for a minute and you would realize how hard it is. I do it for 24 hours a day. Since my work involves the mind you don't see it.'

"How does that help?" the rich man asked.

Buddha reassuringly replied, "Well, when you change your inside your outside world changes. You become the master of all that you do and you can put an end to your sufferings. It is worth more than all the riches of the world that you may collect. But hard work is needed"

The rich man realized the truth and immebecame Buddha's disciple.

 

Great Indian Stories - retold

 

WOW! What separates the Two

Here is another famous Zen Koan to crack:

"Knock - Knock"

Question: What separates the two?

Hint: If needed, strike a table with your knuckles to produce the 'knock-knock' effect.

IOU - Aesthetics

Here is a different take on 'aesthetics'.

The more I am delving into Gregory Bateson's life and work I increasing find how his ideas were shaped in many ways by the Eastern concepts and processes. One of the symbols he used and wrote about was that of Shiva.

Shiva embodies the angle to the nature of aesthetics - It is summed up by the slogan -- Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram -- meaning -- Truth --> Shivam --> Aesthetics. The word Shivam is a bit special. It means the proper alignment of the male energy (expression) and female energy (containment) and turning on the mind (internally) that the Hindus and the Buddhists believe produces beauty (Sundaram).

Now for some fun -- the word Shiva has two parts --> 'Shi' and 'Va'. When you pronounce 'Shi' loudly you would invariably notice that the left side of your body vibrates (the female side -- connected to the right side of the brain). And then when you pronounce 'Va' loudly you would notice the vibration of the right side of the body -- connected to the left side of the brain). Well you probably get the hang of it.

Bateson's understanding of Shiva is great. As inside so outside symbolized by the famous Cosmic Dance in the form of Nataraj.

So the beauty a designer creates or the beauty of a decison any leader takes comes from the inner beauty of a designer's or a leader's mind that is the ability of achieving the 'no mind' state just before thinking. Leave it at that for the time being.