Satori Café

"Don't think! FEEEEL...... It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory."     -Bruce Lee Once upon a time, there lived a Zen master whose dog loved his evening walks with him. The dog would often run to fetch a stick; and then run back to his master to await eagerly for the next round. One day however, the Zen master decided to take one of his favorite disciples to accompany him on his evening walk. He was the brightest of all his disciples; as he was intelligent and so rational that he was troubled by the contradictions made in Taoist doctrines.  "You must understand", said the master. "That words are only guideposts. Never let the words or the symbols get in the way of truth. Here, I will show you".  Having said that, the master called upon his dog. "Fetch me the moon!" said the master, as he pointed towards the full moon.  "Where is my dog looking at?"

One day, the Buddha was walking from one town towards another with a few of his fellow disciples. This was in the initial days; as while they were traveling, they happened to pass by a lake. They decided to stop there as the Buddha called upon one of his disciples and said: "I am thirsty. Please get me some water from that lake over there."  The disciple walked up towards the lake and when he reached it; he noticed that some people were washing their clothes by the riverbank, and it was at that very moment that he also saw a bull cart crossing the lake right at its edge.  As a result, the water became very muddy & very turbid.  The disciple thought: "How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?"  Therefore, he went back to apprised the Buddha and said: "The water in there is very muddy, I do not think it is fit to drink." "So," the Buddha said: "let us take a little rest here, by this tree."  As an hour of half passes by; onc

Wu-Wei 無為 "Wait in the calm strength of patience - he that is strong should guard it with tenderness. One need not fear lest strong will should not prevail; the main thing is not to extend one's powers prematurely in an attempt to obtain by force something for which the time is not yet ripe."    -Bruce Lee Wu Wei;  also known as 無為, is one of the central principles of philosophy found in the humble tenets of Taoism . Known as non-doing or "doing nothing" in Chinese (Mandarin), it can seem confusing & somewhat contradictory to the average person as a pleasant form of encouragement to ease up & slack away from one's striving in life. Yet, if viewed properly, much of this philosophy's complexity can be seen with utter simplicity.  According to the Tao Te Ching ; a Chinese classical text (said to be) written in the year 600 BCE by the Taoist sage Lao Tzu, it expresses that: "The Tao undertakes no activity and yet nothing is left undone." Th

Once upon a time, an old man from Nepal carried a large sack of corn through the forest to a small abandoned mill, to grind it into flour. But before his task was done; darkness fell quickly, so he had no choice but to spend the night at the rickety place.  However, in the dead of night; with the old man laid curled up next to his small fire on the floor of the mill shack, he suddenly awoke to a roar. A huge, apelike creature was standing over him, thundering: "Who are you and what do you want here?!"  "I only want to grind my corn!" squeaked the villager. "This is my hiding place!" snarled the Yeti. "No one sees me & leaves here alive." Naturally, the man was very scared but an idea came to his mind.  "Great Yeti," he began. "It is a Tibetan custom to anoint one's legs before dying. Please, let me perform these rites before you take my life." The surprised Yeti nodded & approved of the old man's request. So th

"Don't feel like picking up my phone, so leave a message at the tone; ' Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything. Nothing at all."    -Bruno Mars, The Lazy Song Sometimes throughout the day, and without quite knowing why, we would somewhat or rather slip into a "lazy" mood of sorts. And when we do enter that state, we're simply unable to do routines that are part of our lives. Be it that daily 5 minute-easy stretch or to reply to the endless torrent of messages that hit us like a tsunami through our phone. On any given day, we're used to & accepting of such trivial tasks that don't seem like chores, but yet we feel feeble and would just like to press "pause".  As a matter of fact, the only thing we seem to have an appetite for, is to flop oneself onto the couch or bed, and stare at the ceiling cobwebs instead. Perhaps to sit on our throne and scan our toilet-roll kingdom or to stand in our shower and pretend the hot waters to