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Sade Olutola
occasionally subtle
PR's Tumblrdome
Xuebing Du
roma★
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YOU ARE THE REASON
Game of Thrones Daily
shark vs the universe
NASA
Keni
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
Kiana Khansmith
untitled
One Nice Bug Per Day
Product Placement
TMBGareOK. The Official They Might Be Giants tumblr
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titsay
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@empty-your-cup-blog
The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered: “Man. Because he scarifies his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his heath. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
Kung fu (功夫) One’s expertise in any skill achieved through hard work and practice, not necessarily martial.
The Great Emptiness
My Sifu called me one day and began our usual conversation with something extraordinary. He told me, "Erin, we all have something in us; a bottomless pit that we try endlessly to fill. This is called the Great Emptiness." At first I did not know what he was getting at. At the time I was young and did not understand what was meant by a great emptiness. I thought he was singling me out: that he saw something in me that needed to be fixed. Now that I am older and understand better my Sifu and the world, I see that I was right. He did see some flaw in me needing to be fixed. However, this flaw exists in all of us. He continued the conversation and used drug users as an example.
"Somone who uses drugs is trying to fill the emptiness inside them. Their first fix satisfies their craving and gives them a glimpse of completion, but this is false. The next time they seek out the high it will never be like the first. They will try their whole lives to feel the way they did when they first started using, but it's a dragon they will never catch"
"It is not only drug users," he said. "People all over the world seek to fill this emptiness whether it is with music, sports, people, or things."
"But music is a good thing Sifu." I said. "It doesn't turn people into addicts or affect the way they behave with people, like drugs do." Clealry I wasn't grasping the lesson. He sighed and said to me,
"It does not matter what the person chases after, only that they are chasing. The chase will never end, the emptiness will never be filled. Now, how to we fix this problem?"
"Fill it with something meaningful?" I responded. I think if he could have, he would have given me a bop on the head. Instead he sighed his usually sigh and said very plainly,
"No. I just told you it would never be filled. As a buddhist, you must accept this fact and continue moving on with your life. A Buddhist Monk accepts this fact and learns not to be deceived by things such as 'filling it'. There is no such thing."
It took me years to understand this conversation. At first, I thought I had done something wrong: that I had been acting a certain way to make him show me that the things I chased after were wrong. Now I realize the true value of this simple conversation. there is a feeling one has as a human being. It is the feeling that something is missing. Perhaps it is a longing to connect with the divine or find our place in the world. Whatever it may be, it sits in the hearts of every person on this planet. It is the feeling of being incomplete. Any action done to fill this incomplete-ness is done in vain, because it can never be satisfied. It is a thirst that can never be quenched. I used to think my life had some deep secretive meaning and that one day I would find whatever it is that makes me feel incomplete or empty. Such a realization has never happened. Nothing I have ever done, noting I have ever found, and not one person I have ever met has satiated that hunger for completion. Instead, I have learned that this feeling will forever persist. Since this realization, every action, every thing, every person has been thought of only in terms of what it is... not how it can make me better. Everything now exists in its own right and is not for something else. I play music because it is beautiful, not because it completes me. My husband is by my side simply because I enjoy him, not because he makes me better. The emptiness has never left. It continues to sit in the right hand corner of my mind and although it calls out for fulfillment, I know better and let it be what it is.
The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
Thomas Merton
32
I opened one of copies of the Tao the Ching. Here's what it read:
Number 32
Eternal Tao has no name
Although simple and subtle,
no one in the world can master it.
If those who rule could grasp it,
everything in the world would honor them,
heaven and earth would join
to rain sweet dew on the people
without command being given.
Rule is begun by naming,
but naming can proliferate.
Know when to stop.
Know when reason sets limits
to avoid peril.
Imagine Tao's presence in the world:
it flows like streams and rivulets
into great rivers and the sea
What I learned from this today:
The Tao has no name. There is not one way to control it or even grasp it, as one would would a possession or idea. Naming things is born from the want to rule and control and in doing so we separate ourselves from the true nature of things, which is nameless. Imagine what it would be like if science and religion could become one. Oh but wait you say, that can't happen. Science only explains how things are. Why things are is religion's territory. But don't you think it's true they talk about the same things? How is the Big Bang different from God creating the universe? Or the universe creating itself? Both claim that from nothing came something, and that once all of this was a singularity. I, personally, don't like science nor religion and this is because they are narrow minded. They claim things to be rules, and later modify these rules. They think one thing is one way, run with it, and eventually they find they were wrong and run with that new idea... The cycle endlessly repeats itself. Science and religions have their own separate languages but whether it's apple or manzana, you're still talking about a red fruit that is juicy and delicious :). No matter what we call the Universe, or God, or Tao the actual thing we are describing doesn't care. It is not effected by our naming it, and us naming it gives us no real clues as to what it is. We cannot find the true nature of it by dissecting and organizing it into an universal system. It's doing it's thing regardless of whether we know it or not. You will never be able to fully understand the mechanics of it. So stop trying to understand why, or how it works. It just flipping works. Instead pay attention to the way it works. Stop limiting yourself with ideas of what it is or isn't and just let it be. Let yourself be.
Stop and listen for the breath of the Tao.
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.
-Bruce Lee
Submitted by: vanill-a
You can't hit anyone either :(
China
Look at these steps. Don't you want to carry pails of water on your back up those babies? Or maybe do pushups all the way down them? Oh, wait, that's just me :) I have this gigantic, enormous and almost unattainable dream to go to China and spend 3 years practicing Wudang kung fu at Wudang mountain. The only problem? 3 years costs nearly 20,000. That, my friends, is a boat load of money. Granted, that's less than the cost of living in the states for 3 years. I wouldn't have a job for the first time in my life, which is probably the best thing about it. Never have i ever dedicated myself to an activity so much that I didn't have time for a job. And Kung Fu is the only activity that I have ever felt so dedicated to that I would give up a job, my friends, my family, and my lifestyle for. There's a girl I work with who insists my dream to go to China is nonsense, and that when I get there I'll be so shocked I'll want to come home. Of course I'll want to come home! OF course I'll be shocked... that's part of the point. I want to be taken out of my element and told to survive. They do this in the military. Bootcamp is tough simply to get used to life in the military. If you can't handle bootcamp, how could you handle a war or serious situation? Your patience, your nerves, muscles, sharpness, and every other sense you could possibly imagine are put to the test while in bootcamp and even while in active duty. They take you and break you down, then they build you up to be a soldier. During this process one learns a new level of control over themselves, new skills, new thoughts and more. And it's because they were taken out of their element and told to survive.
I could, with more time, achieve the level of kung fu I want right here in the states, while working my 9 to 5. But isolation is truly what I crave. I want to be alone with myself because I never have. I want to focus on one activity and have my life become a singularity with one purpose. Isn't that what we all want? Some find it in business, others in music or maybe engineering. I wish I had become one of these people. Then at least my goals and dreams would fit in the main stream "puzzle". Becoming a kung fu master is not a lucrative business and learning life and spiritual lessons do not make money. Thus is my dilemma: do things that make money and be semi-happy and have my life only partially fulfilled, or give up everything to study kung fu and live out my own definition of happiness.
Perhaps this is a monk's greatest power. He gives up everything to pursue what he believes is special and sacred in life. I care not for cars, homes, money or things. I want to spend this life learning worthwhile things. For me, this means practicing martial arts to keep my body healthy and strong, as well as preserve my mind, memory, and concentration. I want to explore the secrets of this existence, so I can perhaps understand better, not only this one, but also the next. Sometimes I wish I had bought into the whole Catholic thing. At least then I could have become a nun, which in my opinion is a fellow traveler on the same path. The Catholic church would at least house me for free, not these Chinese martial arts schools. Which, BTW, are not the ultimate goal in training. They are a stepping stone into something more real. I would really like to go to a real temple, one where they do not teach martial arts. In this temple I most likely cannot speak, and will probably be the master's foot stool for a couple of years. I'm not ready for that yet. I'm too Americanized and it would be too much to handle. This is why the first step is a Taoist Kung Fu school. I'll really get to train my body and hone in on my skills while learning Chinese and what the Chinese people are really like. It'll be my own personal bootcamp, but instead of about 8 weeks it will be 3 years. Oh well, kung fu takes time.
KungFu
The words mean hard work and discipline, and yet, when the average person thinks of it they imagine small Asians doing acrobatics and kicking a lot. Perhaps that's what I once thought too. In fact, the only knowledge I possessed of Kung Fu consisted of Bruce Lee movies and Charlie's Angels. They did cool stuff, and kicked serious booty. Now, as I think about what these two word mean I think nothing of fighting. The ability to perform and knowledge of Kung Fu come second to the inner peace the practice provides.
Anything can
Be kung fu
Anything, no matter the discipline. The artist, the musician, the athlete, the writer... they all have kung fu. Yes, we can all write. We can all paint, all play at least a simple instrument, and we can all play at least some sport. But occasionally playing chopsticks is not the same as when Yo-yo Ma picks up his cello and creates the sounds of Bach's Concerto in D minor. Kung fu is that state of mind when one becomes truly whole with his/her activity. it is hard work and discipline. It is tough. It normally includes blood, sweat, and tears but often ends in laughter and a sense of accomplishment. Yo-Yo Ma's kung fu does not lie in his performance, although he performs perfectly every time. His kung fu is seen as his practices and spends hours upon hours memorizing and feeling the most insignificant of notes. It's his dedication to his craft and his mastery of, not only it, but himself. Perhaps that's what kung fu is, mastery of the self.
Isolation Chamber
Today I called and reserved an hour in the Isoaltion chamber. For all those who have no idea what that is, allow me to explain. An Isolation Chamber, sometimes referred to as a Floatation Chamber, is a box (large enough for a full grown adult) filled with 10 inch. of water. 90% of that water contains Epson salt. Many of you are thinking, "just like the Dead Sea, right?". Bingo geniuses, you got it. You float just like you were in the Dead Sea because the salt keeps you buoyant. Now, the water is heated to approxametly 93 or 94 degrees, matching your skin temperature. There is no light, no noise... nothing. It is a sensory deprivation chamber and this does two things: 1) blurs the line between the physical self and the material world, 2) allows the mind to explore itself without being distracted. I can't wait to try it out. I'm excited to see how deep within myself I can go and I cannot wait to discover something new about myself and the universe. I would love to hear others' experiences about it, so if anyone has ever done anything like this please share your experience :)
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Bene Gesserit Litany
I have felt this way my entire life. Not that I have felt better than the rest, I have just felt capable. Capable of reaching the greatness heard of only in legend. We all posses this ability, however for some reason we hide it. i always thought I was humble: that I never showed my full potential so as not to be lost in the pride and vanity that comes with admiration and fame. This is nonsense and something I told myself so as not to release the greatness I knew lay dormant within. My new goal? To let this greatness shine. So what others are jealous and led by fear to hate those who try. So what I may fail... I shall be stronger because of it. This is my life, and those around me are only participants. I am the protagonist. In the words of Lil Kim "Fuck bitches, get money".
hehe :) Simple words, complex thoughts.
