Satori Café

Once upon a time, there was a boy whose family was very wealthy. One day, his father took him on a trip to the country, where he aimed to show his son how poor people lived.  So they arrived at a farm of a very poor family, as the father considered. They spent several days there.  On their return, the father asked his son if he liked the trip. "Oh, it was great father!" -the boy replied.  The father added: "Did you notice how poor people lived?", to which the boy replied: "Yes, I did father."  So he asked his son to tell him more details about his impressions from the trip.  "Well, we have only one dog, but they have four of them. In our garden there is a pool, while they have a river that has no end. We have got expensive lanterns, but they have the stars above their heads at night. We have the balcony, but they have the whole horizon. We have only a small piece of land, where as they have the endless fields. We buy food, buy they grow it. We have a

"Open the window of the mind. Allow the fresh air, new lights and new truths to enter."     -Amit Ray  For the most of us, as being adults working in a relentlessly fast-paced occupation, in a society that craves productivity as form of fuel source, we may, at one point or another, ridicule ourselves for spending "a little too much time" standing & staring outside the window.  We tend to beat ourselves up for having a short break in front of the world, presented to us through a thin layer of super-heated infused sand, soda ash, & limestone when we should be focusing on our projects or studies that are on today's to-do list.   Often times, we tend to equate window staring as a form of boredom, procrastination, distraction or daydreaming, for the act of cupping your chin in your hands near a pane of glass and letting your eyes drift into the distance does not seem to gather high prestige or positive recognition.  But perhaps there is a certain degree of gr

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at changes."     -Wayne Dyer Once upon a time, there was an old lady who cried all the time. Her elder daughter was married to an umbrella merchant, while the younger daughter was the wife of a noodle vendor.  On sunny days, she worried; "Oh no! The weather is so nice and sunny, no one is going to buy any umbrellas. What will happen if the shop has to be closed." These worries made her sad, as she just could not help but to cry about the plight her eldest daughter had to face.  But when it rains, she would also cry for her youngest daughter, as she thought; "Oh no! My younger daughter is married to a noodle vendor. You cannot dry noodles without the sun. Now there will be no noodles to sell. What should we do?" As a result, the old lady lived in sorrow everyday.  Whether sunny or rainy, she grieved for one of her daughters. Her neighbours couldn't console her and jokingly called her; "

  Once upon a time, there were three old friends. They were all scholars leading busy lives, but they all made it a point to meet once a year to make sure they would always stay in touch with one another. But this time, the gathering felt different. They were all getting old and starting to feel their age.  Sensing this, the first scholar remarked: "We are all here together this year, enjoying each other's company..... But who can say with certainty if we will all be able to come back and be together again next year?". The second scholar laughed: "Next year? I think you may be looking too far ahead and assuming too much. Today I am alive, but who can say with certainty if tomorrow I will open my eyes to greet another day?". They turned to the third scholar, who had been quiet. He looked up to them thoughtfully, and said: "Tomorrow? My friends, as I sit here with you, I do not know if each breath I draw will be my last. Who can say with certainty, if one bre

  Solitude The idea of being alone scares many people, as the concept of it is often perceived with a filter of negativity. And although I do agree that we human beings as social creatures require interaction in order to function properly & healthily in our daily lives, spending time away from the herd by ourselves can benefit our wellbeing immensely. So let's explore the power of solitude & see what it can truly bring to our lives.  Finding Solace, Among Us "Without great solitude, no serious work is possible".    -Pablo Picasso  In this day & age, (and quite possibly throughout the ages) our current society does not seem to like loners, as the fast-paced consumerism driven society that we live in cannot stand non-participation. People who prefer to be alone, such as introverts like myself, for some reason seem to invoke suspicion. Usually, we are ridiculed with comments such as: "He must be a crazy person" or "nobody likes him", etc.  And

Once upon a time, a samurai, who was known for his nobility & honesty, went to visit a Zen monk to seek advice. However, the moment he entered the temple where the master was praying, he felt inferior and concluded that, in spite of having fought for justice & peace all his life, he hadn't even come near the state of grace achieved by the man before him.  "Why do I feel so inferior?", he asked, as soon as the monk finished his prayers. "I have faced death many times before, and have defended those who are weak. I know I have nothing to be ashamed of. But upon seeing you meditating, I felt that my life had absolutely no importance whatsoever." "Wait. Once I have attended to all those who have come to see me today, I shall answer you", the Zen monk replied.  Accepting his reply, the samurai spent the day sitting in the temple gardens, observing the people passing him by, in search of advice. He saw how the monk received them all with the same pat

  Antifragility As the legend goes, the son of Zeus, Hercules, a man born with unimaginable strength, needed to accomplish a series of tasks known as the 12 Labours at the service of King Eurystheus in order to atone for his sins.  However, as the second of his 12 Labours, Hercules had to face a creature unlike any other. A nine-headed, water-dwelling serpentine beast known as the Hydra of Lerna or more commonly known as the Hydra. As the battle began to ensue, Hercules, despite all his might & bravery, was disheartened when he discovered that cutting off one of its heads would only mean that two more shall take its place. Essentially, Hercules would never be able to kill it, as it only got stronger with every wound.  Now luckily for us, we no longer live in a day & age where we have to carry swords & shields to defend ourselves from mythical creatures or fantastic beasts.  However, most of us are not equipped with adequate armor or protection in the form of emotional knowl

Ikigai   生き甲斐 Now, I truly believe that all of us at some point in life have asked ourselves this question: What is my purpose here in life? What is the meaning of my life? Is it to find a career that we love & make a lot of money out of it? Is it to find fulfillment & completion with someone that we hold dear in our hearts? Or is it to find happiness & freedom that we have always desired in our own way? Or maybe it's none of these since they only exist in the material world, and that true happiness & fulfillment lies only in being a monk? (I know I have thought of that once HAHA)  Well, as you can see, this simple question is more complicated than we realized, as it doesn't have an obvious answer of sorts. But it is made even more confusing when modern life is added to the mix. As in today's world, life offers us such a degree of opportunity & choice,  such as different jobs & careers, etc., that  it becomes quite difficult to identify or decide on