My Book House » religion

Peace Prayer of St. Francis

Ms. Kathy — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 10:45:00 +0000

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

Picture by Monet of the bridge at Giverney painted late in life when his eyesight was fading.

Looking in the Light

Ms. Kathy — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 14:17:00 +0000

Mulla Nasruddin (or Hoca Nasrettin in Turkey or Hodja Nasraddin) is a legendary Sufi mystic and the protagonist of many Islamic wisdom tales. “Hoca” means teacher and “mulla” is a teacher trained in Islamic law. One of my favorite Nasruddin tales is the story about his search for a lost key.

One night a man is walking home and he finds the Mulla on his hands and knees under a street light. He asks the Mulla what he is looking for. Mulla Nasruddin tells the man that he has lost the key to his house. The man gets on his hands and knees and begins to search, too. After a while the man becomes tired of searching and he asks, “Mulla, are you sure you lost it here?” The Mulla points to a dark place a few yards away and tells the man, “I lost it over there.” The man says in frustration, “Mulla, if you lost the key over there, then why are you searching for it here?” The Mulla replies simply, “Because this is where the light is.”

This Man’s Gift and That Man’s Scope

Ms. Kathy — Wed, 30 May 2007 03:33:00 +0000

How to surrender desire? All great religious truths resonate with the need to let go of attachment to the world and its many charms. I have been learning about Buddhism and its way of addressing this problem.

4 Noble Truths

dukkha
There is suffering

samudaya
The principle cause of suffering is desire/attachment.

Kama-tanha – desire for sense/pleasures
Bhava-tanha – desire to become
Vibhava – tanha – desire to get rid of

nirodha
The end of suffering is non-attachment.

Ordinary Suffering – dukka-dukkah
Suffering produced by change – viripinama – dukkha
Suffering as conditioned states – samkara- dukkha

magga

The 8-fold path to end suffering

· Wisdom – Panna
1. Right Understanding
2. Right Thought
· Morality – Sila
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
· Concentration –Samadhi
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness

8. Right Concentration

Picture of Buddha by Odilon Redon, French Symbolist painter.