1464. A stratum of warm air indicates the presence of the devil. Boston, Mass. (Irish). 1465. If, when a newly-married couple go to housekeeping, she slyly takes her mother's dish-cloth or dish-wiper, she will never be homesick. Old... Read more of Various at Superstitions.ca

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Samurai

Idealistic Scepticism Concerning Religion And Morality
Similarly, it is the case with religion and morality. If we ...

Great Men And Nature
All great men, whether they be poets or scientists or religio...

A Sutra Equal In Size To The Whole World
The holy writ that Zen masters admire is not one of parchment...

The World Is In The Making
Our assertion is far from assuming that life is now complete,...

Hinayanism And Its Doctrine
The doctrine of Transience was the first entrance gate of Hin...

Zen Is Not Nihilistic
Zen judged from ancient Zen masters' aphorisms may seem, at t...

Universal Life Is Universal Spirit
These considerations naturally lead us to see that Universal ...

Zen Is Iconoclastic
For the followers of Bodhidharma, however, this conception of...

The Law Of Balance In Life
It is also the case with human affairs. Social positions hig...

Nature Favours Nothing In Particular
There is another point of view of life, which gave the presen...

The Development Of The Southern And Of The Northern School Of Zen
After the death of the Fifth Patriarch the venerable Shang Si...

Bodhidharma And The Emperor Wu
No sooner had Bodhidharma landed at Kwang Cheu in Southern Ch...

The Mystery Of Life
Thus far we have pointed out the inevitable conflictions in l...

The Application Of The Law Of Causation To Morals
Although it may be needless to state here the law of causatio...

No Need Of The Scriptural Authority For Zen
Some Occidental scholars erroneously identify Buddhism with t...

Zazen And The Forgetting Of Self
Zazen is a most effectual means of destroying selfishness, th...

Bodhidharma's Disciples And The Transmission Of The Law[fn#31]
[FN#31] For details, see Chwen Tang Luh and Den Ka Roku, b...

The Second And The Third Patriarchs
After the death of the First Patriarch, in A.D. 528, Hwui Ko ...

Enlightenment Implies An Insight Into The Nature Of Self
We cannot pass over, however, this weighty problem without sa...

Life Consists In Conflict
Life consists in conflict. So long as man remains a social a...

All The Worlds In Ten Directions Are Buddha's Holy Land

We are to resume this problem in the following chapter. Suffice it
to say for the present it is the law of Universal Life that
manifoldness is in unity, and unity is in manifoldness; difference is
in agreement, and agreement in difference; confliction is in harmony,
and harmony in confliction; parts are in the whole, and the whole is
in parts; constancy is in change, and change in constancy; good is in
bad, and bad in good; integration is in disintegration, and
disintegration is in integration; peace is in disturbance, and
disturbance in peace. We can find something celestial among the
earthly. We can notice something glorious in the midst of the base
and degenerated.

'There are nettles everywhere, but are not smooth, green grasses more
common still?' Can you recognize something awe-inspiring in the rise
and fall of nations? Can you not recognize something undisturbed and
peaceful among disturbance and trouble? Has not even grass some
meaning? Does not even a stone tell the mystery of Life? Does not
the immutable law of good sway over human affairs after all, as
Tennyson says-

I can but trust that good shall fall
At last-far off-at last, to all.

Has not each of us a light within him, whatever degrees of lustre
there may be? Was Washington in the wrong when he said: Labour to
keep alive in your heart that little spark of celestial fire called
conscience.

We are sure that we can realize the celestial bliss in this very
world, if we keep alive the Enlightened Consciousness, of which
Bodhidharma and his followers showed the example. 'All the worlds in
ten directions are Buddha's Holy Lands!' That Land of Bliss and
Glory exists above us, under us, around us, within us, without us, if
we open our eyes to see. 'Nirvana is in life itself,' if we enjoy it
with admiration and love. Life and death are the life of Buddha,
says Do-gen. Everywhere the Elysian gates stand open, if we do not
shut them up by ourselves. Shall we starve ourselves refusing to
accept the rich bounty which the Blessed Life offers to us? Shall we
perish in the darkness of scepticism, shutting our eyes to the light
of Tathagata? Shall we suffer from innumerable pains in the
self-created hell where remorse, jealousy, and hatred feed the fire
of anger? Let us pray to Buddha, not in word only, but in the deed
of generosity and tolerance, in the character noble and loving, and
in the personality sublime and good. Let us pray to Buddha to save
us from the hell of greed and folly, to deliver us from the thraldom
of temptation. Let us 'enter the Holy of Holies in admiration and
wonder.'

Next: Epicureanism And Life
Previous: Personalism Of B P Bowne

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