One day a samurai came to see the Zen master Hakuin and asked him, "Is there truly a heaven and a hell?"

"Who are you?" the master asked.

"I am the samurai..."

"You, a soldier!" Hakuin exclaimed. "Just look at yourself. What lord would want you in his service? You look like a beggar."

The samurai grew angry and drew his sword. Hakuin continued: "Oh good, you even have a swrd! But you are certainly too clumsy to cut off my head with it."

Losing all self-control, the samurai raised his sword, ready to strike the master. At that very moment the latter spoke, saying, "Here is where the gates of hell open."

Surprised by the monk's air of calm assurance, the samurai sheathed his sword and bowed before him.

"This is where the gates of heaven open," the master then said.

fari shango babatunde

upon being requested to post and told of what was happening here... i thought of some stories and parables that i'd read that could shed light on how to rectify the situtation. by rectify, i mean "change" for the positive.

being that perspectives to the contrary of whatever we define as "positive" on a messageboard or in life, will exist independently of us, the best thing to do is "control self". cool thing is, this usually winds up actually influencing others... ESPECIALLY if you're confident in your actions in the first place.

a suggestion for those asking for a higher caliber of discussion and respect is to simply NOT PAY ATTENTION TO and involve oneself in the exchange of an energy you SEE and KNOW is gonna generate negativity (however you define that). if you can see the Taoist principle in the above tale, i'd also suggest capitalizing on the momentum of such an energy when you witness and try to 1)redirect it to somewhere else 2)change it to something else 3)accept it and observe it. this could be done by: a request to the poster or person to take that energy elsewhere (you'd be surprised how people respond to direct queries to "STOP IT!"...some of you may remember that Cosby show episode where Rudy told all the bad people to "Stop it!), use of the Socratic method to dissipate a person's energy, and use of patience respectively.

there are plenty of ways of neutralizing another person's energy, but it all starts with an "air of calm assurance" which ultimately begins with yourself. everything that bothers you is generated from within. the way you perceive and interact with something will determine how you feel about it and engage it.

a sign i read on a church bulletin board: "That which angers you, controls you." If we allow ourselves time to find that "stillness" within, then it'll be all that easier to confidently deal with the external. my suggestion is to carefully pick exactly what deserves your attention and time and energy. there is ABSOLUTELY no reason to ever get upset or bothered. after all, one reson for such emotions is a lack of accurate perception and awareness, cuz i'm finding that the more you learn and understand things that are TOTALLY opposite you, the greater your ability is to deal with it from your center and still maintain balance.

n/m

i respect you.

peace.

Good drop!


"Tongue is lightening"
- Luyia

good stuff

.

>Surprised by the monk's air of calm assurance, the samurai
>sheathed his sword and bowed before him.

I think deep inside we all know this but many folks refuse to act on it...transforming the subtle negativity all around us into a force of compassion and understanding.

My knowledge comes from what I know inside, what makes sense to me. I do not like agression or competition. I do not want to be divisive or isolated. I am assured and often this is threatening to those who would rather raise the sword, so to speak than be reverent.

in its simplicity...

is activism


* *
last week u burned a old lady's retina
i thought them thick coke bottle jammies might protect her, but it didnt pa
the ladies blind and its all ya fault

------------------------------------------------------------
It's only natural, actual facts are thrown at you
The impact'll blow trees back and crack statues
Million dollar rap crews fold, check the sick shit
Explicit, I crystalize the rhyme so you can sniff it

- Inspectah Deck, "It's Yourz"

One day the Yagyu clan, the Shogun's enforcers, coveted Itto Ogami's position as 'Kaishakunin', or Executioner - the Shogun's Officer of Death. They framed Ogami, and the Shogun sent his ninja assassins to kill him, but they slayed his wife instead. Blinded by rage and vowing to avenge her death, Ogami takes his executioner's sword and sets out on the bloody path of vengeance and darkness.

And so Itto Ogami begins his journey on "the Road to Hell." He has taken the assassin's road and become a Ronin - a Masterless Samurai - roaming the land as a professional killer, known and feared as the Lone Wolf. He walks the path of 'Meifu-mado', the Dark Road to Hell. Soon Lone Wolf's bloody sword of vengeance will be unleashed upon the Shogun's sons, the evil Yagyu clan & the legendary 'Masters of Death', and finally the Shogun himself...

But for Lone Wolf to truly transcend himself and become the perfect Shogun Assassin, he must reach the state of "Mu" - to embrace nothingness. "When you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha." - These words echo in Itto Ogami's mind when he is hired to kill a wise Zen master who shows him the way to Wu-Men Kuan, "The Gateless Barrier."

Will the Lone Wolf pass the The Gateless Barrier and enter the Gates Of Heaven, or will he continue on his path of vengeance down the Dark Road to Hell?

___________________________________
A Warning from Yoda...

A Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the Dark Side; anger, fear, aggression - the Dark Side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. Once you start down the Dark Path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

"You don't know the *POWER* of the Dark Side!" Sith proverb

the Zen master Hakuin is lucky the samurai he crossed paths with was not Itto Ogami, the Lone Wolf seeking vengeance on the Assassin's Road... or the Gates of Hell would've opened on his ass with the quickness.

___________________________________
A Warning from Yoda...

A Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the Dark Side; anger, fear, aggression - the Dark Side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. Once you start down the Dark Path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

"You don't know the *POWER* of the Dark Side!" Sith proverb

!!!!!!

1 too foe fi!

count'n deez rox batch!

I understood the overall point of the passage and what's interesting is that this is a very Sango way of dealing with adversity (With coolness and calmness). However, I would also add that becoming angry is a natural emotion and that I would argue that there's nothing wrong with its expression as long as it is constructive and destructive to yourself or others. This concept is something that I am continually learning each day b/c my anger (when it gets out) can be quite all encompassing. I'm working on making it work for me instead of against me. Just my two cents...

Thanks for putting this passage out there.

peace!
li

try removing yourself from teh situation and/or taking a deep breath or two next time you feel yourself getting ready to blow

come back at the situation more peacefully

i used to be very proud of my anger & fighting abilities, but i'm learning how much more effective i am when i stay rational

of course, along the lines of what you said, you need to be physically active at the same time- that's the other side of it

anyway, it took me almost 30 years to learn to control my anger. i wish i had had that ability years ago.

... insanity later.

serenity now
serenity now
serenity now
senenity now...

***SERENITY NOW!!!***

------------------------------------------------------------
It's only natural, actual facts are thrown at you
The impact'll blow trees back and crack statues
Million dollar rap crews fold, check the sick shit
Explicit, I crystalize the rhyme so you can sniff it

- Inspectah Deck, "It's Yourz"

to an inbox regarding the quieting of anger as it's concerned with "acceptable" and often necessary reasons for such energy:

i feel you. 100%. how to resolve the "spirit of Shango" and the Buddha is sorta conflicting at times.

what i've found though, is that the ability to withhold the anger/rage leads towards peace. a peace that allows for me to accumulate a larger resevoir for higher levels of energy, which oftentimes leads towards more compassion or a higher potential for expression of anger. the choice is in controlling the "direction" of emotion. like vector manipulation. you can go one way or the other. holding that "charge" of energy is key though, so that one can build it up to be used in "important" matters. getting angry at little shit is beyond me now, and i just hope that at the right time i can summon the stored energy i have from staying calm in those "lesser" situations, for REAL issues.

?

...and intentional direction of energy/effort.

instead of being at the whim of emotions. i'm reading some martial arts texts involving "feeling" and awareness beyond the use of the senses (yeah right) and it's interesting to see that emotion used for a split second to gain accurate awareness is then set aside so that one can act with precision and not be overun by the "feeling" that emotion naturally progresses to. (in martial arts this is represented by saying that anger or fear gives way to hightened awareness of ones' surroundings and then being controlled wnough to allow th person to fight with technique)