Halt an, wo läufst du hin, der Himmel ist in dir:
Suchst du Gott anderswo, du fehlst ihn für und für.
[Angelus Silesius aka Johann Scheffler in Der cherubinische Wanderer]
Travel within thyself!
The Stone Philosophers with wisest arts
Have vainly sought, cannot be found
By travelling in foreign parts.
[The Cherubinic Pilgrim - Translation by J. E. Crawford Flitch]
it helps though. even more so, if praying is considered to be just one form of positive thinking
The Living Buddha Business is a Political System [J. F. Rock]
The Living Buddha business, he said, was a political or diplomatic system and always worked out for the good of the rich an influential. The local Buddha was very rich; so was his steward; and when "reincarnations" occurred, it seemed to him that this "miracle" always happened just as it might have been desired by the chief Buddha. For example, when the daughter of a powerful chief died, she was soon afterward incarnated in the person of a small boy, a nephew of the Buddha's steward - a business and political arrangement agreeable to all concerned! When one of the minor Buddhas of Radja died he, too, was happily, conveniently, and quickly reincarnated, this time in the person of the steward's brother!
I smiled and asked the water-carrier how it happened that none of his children was the reincarnation of some departed Buddha. With a twinkle in his eye, he remarked that it was because the sum of all his worldly goods was two goats.
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Joseph Rock, Austrian-American botanist and explorer traveled for this expedition in Southwestern Gansu province of nowadays China, between 1924 and 1927.
I smiled and asked the water-carrier how it happened that none of his children was the reincarnation of some departed Buddha. With a twinkle in his eye, he remarked that it was because the sum of all his worldly goods was two goats.
---
Joseph Rock, Austrian-American botanist and explorer traveled for this expedition in Southwestern Gansu province of nowadays China, between 1924 and 1927.
atheism 2.0
so far the soundest talk on religion and what it takes to reconstruct it as an institution for mankind: alain de botton on atheism 2.0
Must Watch Movies
- Siddharta: a beautiful film based on the Hermann Hesse novel
- The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ: a Martin Scorsese classic starring William Dafoe as psycho Jesus
- Keeping the Faith: a great comedy about a rabbi and a priest falling for the same woman
- Point Break: my all time favorite. Experience the tai chi on the tip of a wave
- Baraka: probably the most religious movie ever made. Showing all that is in stunning beauty. Nature. Man. Beast
- Samsara: similar to Baraka a stunning masterpiece of cinematographic beauty, which does not only contain religious scenes, but shows art to be a religious practice.
- The Little Buddha: Keanu Reeves as the Seattle reincarnation of a Tibetan monk. Childhood classic, co-starring Bridget Fonda and Chris Isaak.
- Departures - Okuribito: a professional cellist sells his chello to learn the art of undertaking.