Satori Café

Did you know that this beautiful & intricate work of art would take days, sometimes even weeks to complete; and as soon as it is finished, the artisans would proceed to destroy it?! You see, the work of art above is known as a sand Mandala. Sand Mandalas are an ancient, sacred form of artistry in Tibetan Buddhism. They are created through the use of sophisticated, yet alluring geometry that is worked in tandem with beautiful & vibrant coloured sand. In fact, the word " mandala" itself is a Sanskrit word meaning: "circle", with the mandala being the visual & physical representation of life that encompasses us all. The circle of life, if you will.  But more than just that, the sand mandala also represents the sands of time. This work of art which no doubt is a work by heart symbolizes the concept of impermanence, which is a big word that means: "nothing lasts". Friendships, relationships, our good looks, careers, status, money & health, etc.

Once  upon a time, a woodsman came into a forest and made a petition to the trees to provide him a handle for his axe. The Trees, honoured by his civility, acceded to his request; and held a consultation to decide which of them should be given to him. Without a dissenting voice, they chose the Ash, who it seems; is not a favorite amongst The Trees. Some of them were bold enough to say that bad luck went with the Ash, and that at heart; they were not bound to be in sympathy with woodcutters.  Therefore, the Woodsman cut down the tree (The Ash) and fitted the handle to his axe; then to the dismay of the Trees , he set to work upon them, and with strong strokes, quickly felled all the noblest of giants of the forest.  Lamenting too late of the fate of his companions, an Old Oak remarked to a neighbouring Cedar: " The first step has lost us all. If we had not so willingly given up the rights of The Ash, we might have stood for ages."  You see, if you give up on one of your own ki

Long ago, before the time of this story, people in Asia used to believe that there would never be a time when an elephant and a dog would become friends. For elephants simply did not like dogs, and dogs were afraid of elephants. When dogs are frightened by those who are bigger than they are, they often bark very loudly to cover up their fear.  And it is by doing so every time they encountered an elephant, that the elephant would become antagonized & would chase them; for elephants had no patience at all when it came to dogs. Even if a dog were quiet and still, any nearby elephant would instinctively attack him on sight. This is the reason why everybody agreed that elephants and dogs were "natural enemies", like lions and hyenas or bears & wolves.  So once upon a time, there was a Royal Bull Elephant who was very well fed and cared for. In the neighbourhood of the elephant shed; there lived a scrawny, poorly fed, stray dog. He was attracted by the smell of the rich swe

"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