What a perfect time

[manitou]

Here in the U.S., we now have a new leader.  

 

Whether we woke up this morning in extreme elation or extreme disgust as our first emotion, it seems to me that there could not be a better time to put into practice that which we walk toward - the mindset of no opinion, of finding the spaces between the events, of living in the spaces between the words.  The mindset of the Master.  To embrace the Is-ness of things as they are, not as we think they should be.  To live in observation, not inner dialogue; to leave personality behind and live in the context of our Being.  To find the space from which thoughts, words, and events derive and dwell there.

 

As luck would have it, I am doing a re-read of an old Eckhart Tolle book, the one in which he tells the 'Is That So' story of the Zen master.  I read this last night:

 

"The Zen Master Hakuin lived in a town in Japan.  He was held in high regard and many people came to him for spiritual teaching.  Then it happened that the teenage daughter of his next-door neighbor became pregnant.  When being questioned by her angry and scolding parents as to the identity of the father, she finally told them that he was Hakuin, the Zen Master.  In great anger the parents rushed over to Hakuin and told him with much shouting and accusing that their daughter had confessed that he was the father.  All he replied was "Is that so?"

 

"News of the scandal spread throughout the town and beyond.  The Master lost his reputation.  This did not trouble him.  Nobody came to see him anymore.  He remained unmoved.  When the child was born, the parents brought the baby to Hakuin.  "You are the father, so you look after him."  The Master took loving care of the child.  A year later, the mother remorsefully confessed to her parents that the real father of the child was the young man who worked at the butcher shop.  In great distress they went to see Hakuin to apologize and ask for forgiveness.  "We are really sorry.  We have come to take the baby back.  Our daughter confessed that you are not the father."  "Is that so?" is all he would say as he handed the baby over to them.

 

"The Master responds to falsehood and truth, bad news and good news, in exactly the same way:  "Is that so?"  He allows the form of the moment, good or bad, to be as it is and so does not become a participant in human drama.  To him there is only this moment, and this moment is as it is.  Events are not personalized.  He is nobody's victim.  He is so completely at one with what happens that what happens has no power over him anymore.  Only if you resist what happens are you at the mercy of what happens, and the world will determine your happiness and unhappiness."

 

(Thank you, Eckhart!)

 

Mr. Trump is now a leader of the free world.  

 

Is that so?

Edited November 9, 2016 by manitou

[9th]

Once upon a time there was a farmer who had only one horse, and one day the horse ran away. Soon after, his neighbors came to console him over his terrible loss. The farmer asked, "What makes you think it is so terrible?" 

 

A month later, the horse came home - this time bringing with her two beautiful wild horses. The neighbors became excited at the farmer's good fortune. They were such lovely strong horses! The farmer asked, "What makes you think this is good fortune?" 

 

A few days after this, the farmer's son was thrown from one of the wild horses and broke his leg. All the neighbors were very distressed. It was such bad luck! The farmer asked, "What makes you think it is bad?" 

 

Near the end of the season, a war came, and every able-bodied man was conscripted and sent into battle. Only the farmer's son remained, because he had a broken leg. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. The farmer asked, "What makes you think it is good?"