1. Enlightened Virtue

Mingjiao said:

"Nothing is more honourable then enlightenment, nothing is more beautiful than virtue. Those who have enlightened virtue, have it even though they be ordinary people, while those who lack it lack it even though they be kings.

There were some people who starved to death in the ancient times but have been admired ever since only for their virtue; there were others who were kings but have been despised ever since only for their lack of virtue.

So the learnede worry only about not being imbued with virtue and not about being in the positions of power and authority."

(Translator's Source: Tanqin Annals)

Zen Lessons

Zen Lessons is another series of posts I shall be starting today. Should be a good companion to the inspirational thoughts series. The first volume will be The Art of Leadership (translation by Thomas Cleary). This is a collection of social and psychological teachings of Chinese Zen (Chan) teachers of the Song dynasty from 10th to 13th centuries. Some marvellous gems of the oriental wisdom.

What I post here will be straight from Thomas Cleary's unabridged translation published in the Shambhala's Pocket Classics series. I am simply doing this to spread this knowledge around and with no intention of commercial gain. Author has been duly credited for everything. For further details read the book. If anybody still has issues regarding this disclaimer, then deal with them yourselves!

Character

I will be starting a new series of posts from today. Inspirational quotes and a little something I have to say about them. Hope you get inspired and hope they work miracles in your life. The quotes/thoughts won't be mine but what will follow them is. So if you want to credit these or use them somewhere, don't use my name! I don't particularly like courts, especially for copyright reasons.

Today we start with this:

"When you build a house every brick counts, when you build a character every thought does"

Character sure is a dodgy issue in this day and age. People don't know what it means, what it's worth and why should one have a good character. Most importantly they don't know what actually constitutes a good character. Now I shall be posting my views on character building and things related to that later. For now though, I for one am very inspired by this quote. I feel like it gave my existing beliefs a proper platform to stand and grow on.

A good, strong, consistent and unblemished character may perhaps be the only key to a happy and successful life. Achieve this and all other achievements are but a state of fleeting glee! Nothing compares a good character.

Your thoughts please.

Slowly as I get back on track...I ponder time

-->

Life really gets quite busy at times leaving you no time to do something as simple as post in your blog! Well, one may say that "I am busy" is perhaps the lamest and most clichéd of all the excuses and just as it appears, I too believe it is. However, the point is, these are the moments when there is a possibility. There is what is known as a transition state in chemistry, where the possibility of conversion of reactants to products is maximum. Well, just so in our lives these are verily the times when such seemingly unimportant incidents inspire us to have a rendézvous with ourself.

Things said and done, where am I leading with all this you must be wondering? Simple. If we decide, even the tiniest of things in our everyday life has the capacity to lift us up to that transition state where we have a highest possibility of transformation. Take this for instance, lack of time. Makes us think about time. What is time? Do we really understand time? Is it an illusion? Think. Think. Think...If you say time is constant, then by definition it does not match the state of constancy; where that which is constant is eternally and immutably static and which is unaffected by any external factors. If you catch a flight to a destination a few latitudes either direction of where you are, time is changed! Leave this planet and move to Saturn, time is longer there. Leave the solar system, there is no time as we know it. So you see, here time is changing with the change in the location of observer. Anyhow, my aim is not to write a thesis on time. I simply want to encourage some sincere thought in those who would read this. Thought about the true nature of time, and how are we linked to it at the very core!

Take human life as an example. Let's say, that ceteris paribus (all other things being equal), humans tend to have a lifespan of about a 100 years. Now of these, about 35 years are spent in sleeping (assuming 8 hours sleep every night). 15 years in childhood, where we really have no clue what we are doing or supposed to do. Fine that we are children and our life is joyful and happy (though I doubt it is the case for kids these days), but generally, in these years we are incapable of giving any real and serious thought to the nature of life, reality and so on. Now of the remaining, about 25 years on an average are taken up by old age and a condition of almost to total infirmity and incapacity. This makes the total number of years we actually have for us only 25! Even of these 25, we spend about 5 years in acquiring the skills necessary for that glorious and successful career we desire, another 10 or so in developing/building this career. Of the remaining last 10 years, we in the east have our share of responsibility towards old parents to perform, serving them and so on; while those in the west spend most of this final decade left in what is termed as "domestic issues" (love issues, drinking problems, money problems and so on...list is endless!) Considering this, we really, honestly only have these 5 years in hands to think, know, understand what the heck our life really is! Is this enough? Think about it. Of a possible 100 years of life, we may, just may get 5 years for this and since most of us never reach 100, its even less.

Is a time period of 5 years enough for all these things? Although a fruit may become ripe overnight, it did so because it was in the process of ripening for several days and without those days this one night would have made no difference in it whatsoever! Question is that of the amount of margin we have. Given the imperfect nature we are born with, this most certainly is a very short time; and time is always fickle. A backstabber. Time is your greatest friend, time is your greatest foe. Choice really and truly is individual. We may make a day's life an eternity, or live an eternity in a day!

I know it's just my first post after returning back to blogging and you may think why this out of everything! But well, since I don't care about world politics anymore, bored to death of other issues plaguing this planet and unable to write poetry...what better friend to turn to than good old philosophy! It is the science of putting the burden of your questions on someone else's shoulder to ease your pain. You chose it though and I appreciate it.

In Circles

There is a chair on castors, in my room

Into it I sit, rotating around, day and night.

I look above at the coved ceiling,

Swiveling in circles, with the hands of clock;

One round, two rounds, three rounds past

I still rotate around, day and night.

Now the walls begin to walk, and cupboards run,

I see colours and stars, and strange shapes in my eyes!

Then an angel descends from the clouds of my mind,

And gently removes and keeps my head aside.

I listen to my laughter, but forget my voice

I am still alive, but as if without a life;

Like the dervishes, I whirl around, my skirt flying by,

My red hat too, rotates around, day and night.

I feel like I am that little keyed doll,

That claps and jumps, with its rotating key.

I feel like the planets dancing around in sky,

Bored of revolving around the same old sun;

Even the lemon looks pretty same, like that sun

Now squeezed dry, into the cocktail of my memories.

I wish I was free again...

I wish I was free again,

To live as I wished, doing things I love

None, with even a word would torment;

My heart of a child, in this innocent life,

Which like the soap bubbles, swells and bursts!

I wish I was free again,

Wearing the rustic robe of night,

I wish I could hide away…from this selfish world;

Rather than vanishing in the desert storms,

I would become the sand or winds or the oases!

I wish I was free again,

No life, no death, no ignorance, no escape

Just a rhapsodic release from this all,

Still only an enjambment, to the everlasting joy;

The joy of peace, of freedom!

I wish I was free again,

Looking through the window, at the empty street,

Listening to my goldfish, in its bowl breathe,

Following it through to crescendo…

…of its melody of life, so happy and so free!

Looking at our lives..at the majority of us at least, its so funny not to miss the little fears and frustrations, anguishes and pains, our own little concepts of this life we live, our joys, pleasures, sorrows, inhibitions...all of these things. A little thing is made a big issue. We tend to complicate things a lot, and often blow them out of proportions. When in pain, we seek sympathy than support; when in joy, we forget everyone and become very selfish. Yes, we do say we are simply humans and these things are but instinctual to us. But is that really so? I mean, lets ponder over this bit a little more. Do we actually try changing ourselves for the better unless circumstances force us to? Do we accept our incapacities and incapabilities instead of hiding them? Why do we always tend to hide behind this mask of what we are not whenver forced by a situation to fall and accept defeat?

Life should be a pursuit of perfection, not of happiness; because perfect happiness comes only with perfect knowledge, the knowledge of self, of reality, of life...and perfect knowledge comes only when we manage to perfect ourself. Only when we become successful in taming the wild and drunken monkey of our mind do we ever encounter pure happiness. One should be able to distinguish between happiness and pleasures. That which lasts only for a short period of time is pleasure...its like the drops of water in an ocean which evaporate to fall from the heavens as rain only to vanish again but still giving joy to the innocent life for a while. Happiness, however, is eternal, like that vast ocean...ever so fathomless, ever so mysterious, ever so pure!

Most of our lives are spent hankering and craving for happiness. Even a little joy of a moment makes us feel we are happy when we are no more than pleased! We tend to believe that the road to happiness is contention of soul and that in order to be happy, we need to look beyond our very self. Staring happiness in its eyes though, we realize that this is wrong. Happiness arises only when we are at peace with ourself and to be at peace in such a way, we first need to confront our darker side. Shying away from this other half only makes things worse. Letting go of our inhibitions and accepting what we really and truly are, we become the divine force which sustains life. Becoming this force, we find peace and knowledge. With this comes the virtue of happiness. We first need to conquer our frail and timid half which on exposing itself looks very scary at first sight, but later we realize that it is just what we think it is and not what it really is!

The only way to attain eternal bliss and happiness is thus, to first become at peace with ourself. 'The Middle Way' teaches us how to attain this equilibrium. Excess of anything is wrong. Just as joy is followed by sorrow and sorrow by joy, we need to work our way through this minefield of opposites to reach the end, which we then understand is just the beginning. Instead of obstructing the flow of life, we should learn to flow with it. Life is not just a haphazard arrangement of incidents, it is an intricately designed facade which has a very deep and implicit meaning, only waiting to be unveiled.

Recently I've been in a think-a-lot mode..forcing myself to find answers to certain questions I always wondered about. Following few posts will be about that. Nothing great really, just thought that I'd share this stuff here. Now these are no more than my answers for these questions but I couldn't help wonder how these complex questions of life and reality and truth can have such really simple answers.

So here we go.. :-)

Life is that which you never knew it is; and when it starts unfolding, you realize that even you are not what you thought you were. Slowly and steadily as one comprehends the mysteries of this universe and begins to realize the truths of life, one begins to be isolated from the homogeneous monotony of the mundane realism. Whether this isolation is good or bad is yet another question but what is worth noting here is the immense potential which this isolation equips that individual with; the potential to become life itself in a way.

Everyone realizes the truth when their time comes, when their destinies mature, but it is this very truth that corrupts! When you see the joy as joy, the suffering as suffering, the pain as pain, the self as self, the illusion as illusion, the ignorance as ignorance and the escape therefrom as escape, you cease to be what you always believed you were. The reality as perceived by the ignorance bounded creatures of darkness becomes a mighty enemy of your selfless self, glorified by the eternal luminescence of that imperceptible and undescribable reality of all that there ever was, is and will ever be.

A fantasy although this may seem to be, it is the reality of our lives; a fantastic reality!

Death of the Man

Revelations of what you see, and those of what I see too,

Infernal revelations from our primordial past;

Do shock us, but also soothe.

He speaks of honour and glory, bloody hypocrite!

Just as dreamily as he evoke the passions,

He uses the blood to stain the stream

Then in vain, with a peacock's feather he tries to paint;

The absurd in static, the surreal in facts.

I wonder, just as you would do,

What ticks his psyche's clock?

That heaving bosom, like the bellows of a blacksmith,

Germs a terror, or perhaps a fraility of some kind?

Back to wondering though, it does not stop,

But no answer I find, and neither would you;

Right, but who is he? And what is it in him...

...which makes him root in these fallacies?

Nobody knows, nor them, not you and neither do I;

But we remain stunned and petrified in horror,

When we beheld those hellish acts...oh devil be cursed!!

Questions...of life and death, of reality and dream...still horrify.

To my surprise, still, I remember I tried

With you, you know...to confront these dumb lies;

What we got though? Just a little more pain,

And an evening supper with the devil's clan!

How could a man, oh God how could he?!

Wreak such havoc in the nature's womb?

How could he...I beg to know, be unaffected...

...by his own diabolic acts? Is his conscience frozen??

If enslaving the niggers and coloured beasts were philanthropy,

Then I would rather eat a venomous feast and die;

If hubris were to be a virtue and lust the land's law,

A hungry lion in my face, to me would suffice!

Remember...they would wring the necks of men and animals alike,

And then in silver goblets, their blood-meals would proceed;

Followed by the succulent le bifteck de chair avec le sang,

Oh nevermind...they'd say, les autres attendront...as if they care!

Look there, you see those clergymen? Ha! They say...

...no, preach morelike; "the gospel of love" (and what do they do?)

Like how a bunch of pigs would happily bathe, in the grime of fresh hypocricy!!

Poor pigs, why blame them? Who are we to judge afterall?

You see, my heart aches and the soul goes numb,

As I continue to write this song;

Did I say song? Oh melodies be damned!!

I mean...this is but a tragedy of man...

The benign skies from above would laugh,

And the earth too would shy away;

The oceans, with the rivers would wash their face,

And trees would hide their's in disdain!

I see a change coming this way,

Perhaps quite tumultuous and grave;

Transformation to redeem this race of its sins,

As it walks silently, down the Hellespont.

Meanwhile, like a dumbstruck fool I wonder still,

Trying to figure out what I wish to know;

What makes the heart of a man? Is it the good or is it the bad?

Shades of both perhaps, for no poles exist in there.

Listen carefully...do you hear the sound? The choir plays a dirge,

And hermits clad in jet black robes too queue;

To mourn, or may be to celebrate the death of man...

...who lost the battle, before even knowing why!

"Blâmer le sort"...now you might say,

For what was his fault in this case?

I just grin and laugh inside, a few more join me too...

...you know, like how swans mock a crow?...just like that...

Bang! A rapturous rumble of the roaring skies,

Mark his end afteral...that brutal savage, forever damned!

A lightning strikes, followed by the rain, and it cleans...

...the earth from the plaques of man's deeds, ever so evil.