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

One day, a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The donkey cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided that the animal was too old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway, so it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well and onto the donkey. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horrifically. Then to everyone's amazement, it soon quieted down.  A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down at the well & was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit its back, the donkey was doing something amazing: It would shake it off and take a step up.  As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, it would shake it off and take another step up. Eventually, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up & over the edge of the we

Orpheus was the son of Apollo and Calliope, one of the Nine Muses. A talented musician, he played the lyre to such perfection that even Apollo himself was amazed. Nothing could resist his music, neither mortals nor Gods.  The young man fell in love with Eurydice, a woman of unique beauty, with whom he married & lived happily for a short time. However, one day, when Eurydice was wandering in the forest, a shepherd saw her and was beguiled by her beauty. He made advances towards her and began to chase her when she attempted to flee. As Eurydice ran through the forest, she was tragically bitten by a snake and died instantly. Orpheus expressed his grief with his lyre and the gods were deeply touched. Apollo advised his son to descend to Hades, the underworld realm of the dead to seek his wife. Any other mortal would have died attempting this journey, but Orpheus was protected by the Gods.  After many adventures, Orpheus presented himself in front of the God of The Underworld, Hades and

  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

This is the story of a young boy who tragically lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. Years went by, but his self-esteem was left behind. One day, his parents decided that it was time to move to somewhere new. So while looking through some boxes, the boy came across an old martial arts magazine, and it was from there that he quickly signed up to study Judo.  The boy began his lessons with an old Japanese Judo Master. On his first week, the Judo master taught him a very impressive throw. And on the second week, he was asked to practice that same throw. Time passed, and he was doing extremely well, so he could not understand why after three months of training, the master had only taught him one move.  " Sensei ", the boy finally asked. "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?" To which the master replied: "This is the only move you know but this is the only move you'll ever need to know." Not quite understanding but believing in his teacher, t

When I was an adolescent, I envied the great ballerinos among the kids on the block and pretended I had other things to do at parties like having a conversation. But in fact, I was terrified of looking ridiculous, and because of that I would not risk a single step. Until one day, a girl called Marcia called me out in front of everybody: "Come on!". I said I did not like to dance but she insisted. Everyone else in the group was watching, and because I was in love, I could refuse no further.  I did not know how to follow the steps, but Marcia did not stop. She went on dancing as if I were the best ballet dancer in the world. "Forget the others and pay attention to the bass, try to follow its rhythm." she whispered into my ear.  At that moment, I understood that we do not always have to learn the most important things; they are already part of our nature. When we become adults & when we grow old, we need to go on dancing. The rhythm changes, but music is part of li

It's your first ever boxing match, but not necessarily your first fight, as you've been training in the art of the sweet science for nearly three years now.  Your opponent on the other hand is also having his first fight, but after spending a few rounds with him, you question his level of skill as his training seems to be mostly made out of a couple of bar fights, with his coach being You Tube videos of street fights.  "After all, performance reflects everything." You wondered.  And thus, the final round begins.  Right off the bat, your opponent chases you down, trying to pile on aggression & pressure as he did in the previous rounds. Though he seems more fit to be in swimming than boxing as he swings for the hills, headhunting as his objective. You decide to play it cool for this round and work on your defense & footwork instead. And as your haymaker-specialist friend tries to take your head off in one blow with a cocked-back right hand, you exploited the gap