Turtle

"Imagine that the whole earth was covered with water, and a man was to throw a yoke with a hole in it into the water. Blown by the wind, that yoke would drift north, south, east and west. Now, suppose that once in hundred years a blind turtle would rise to the surface. What do you think? Would that turtle put his head through the hole in the yoke as he rose to the surface once in a hundred years?"

"It is unlikely Lord."

"Well, it is just as unlikely that one will be born as a human being; it is just unlikely that a Tathagata, a Noble One, a fully enlightened Buddha should arise in the world; and it is just as unlikely that the Dhamma and discipline of the Tathagata should be taught. But now you have been born as a human being, a Tathagata has arisen and the Dhamma has been taught. Therefore, strive to realize the Four Noble Truths."

Monday, December 12, 2011

Someday List

In one of the recent Simple Dollar newsletters, it discussed about the Someday List, i.e. things that we thought we will do someday. I had a wish list which I've created several years back, but when I read this post, I'll write down something today.. which I think looks a bit different from my wish list:
1. Compile my own devotion book, containing verses for puja, meditation ideas, quotes, sutras, parittas, songs, etc.
2. Organize a mini concert (hmm, this is a pretty big project for myself, which I have "fear" in doing cause it involves a performance. But I thought it would be quite nice to have a few friends and myself to perform)
3. Clean-up and donate old books, magazines, old souvenirs, clothers, etc - I really should aim to lessen the things I own.
4. Have friends gathering to play games.. something I used to like to do when I was younger but I always have difficulty to find friends, maybe it's because I never look for such friends seriously?
5. Learn to cook......
6. Create a mini library? Instead of donating perhaps I could create my very own mini library, and encourage friends to contribute? If I have the time and money, another idea I have is to turn this library into a sort of fund raising for charity - i.e. I'll do a book rental service, but all deposits will go to charity. First of all I have to learn to let go of my personal collection, which I think I have too much sentiment for.

I think that's about it.. I'll visit the list from time to time.. and I think I do turn to do things in this list when I feel like I need something to work on - which is why I'm pretty happy that shopping is not one of my favourite passtime activity!

~ttg @ Realized Tranquility of the Heart~
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