Originally Posted by
pacfan
(I'll be out for a while on a secret mission :confused: so I decided to leave a thought for all of you to ponder on for the New Year. Be good boys and gals. Happy New Year, fellas!)
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A Garden of Thousand Flowers(A Key to Happiness)
What's the difference between an ordinary man and a Zen master?
If you put an ordinary man into a dungeon, he will start to despair and waste away little by little, and eventually perish because as soon as he gets into that dark pit, so goes his heart with it.
But if you put a Zen master in a dungeon, he will be as happy as he has been. Why? Because he has built a garden of thousand flowers in his heart, a garden so beautiful that nothing, not even the darkness of the dungeon, can overshadow its beautiful radiance.
How did he build the most beautiful garden? By planting one flower a day in his heart...
People try to find happiness outside. But happiness is actually what you feel inside. Trying to find happiness outside only leads to frustration and desperation because you cannot mold everything outside to fit your needs or desires. You must find it within, within your heart. So you must build your own garden of thousand flowers in your heart by planting one flower a day - occasionally plucking out the weeds of anger, fear, hatred, prejudice, envy, sadness, resentment, and other negative thoughts and feelings, and replacing them with feeling of confidence and joy, and always sprinkling it with water of love and illuminating it with sunshine of hope...
- You plant a flower when...
someone or something annoys you, instead of being irked, you just sweep that feeling away, smile and let it go...
- You plant a flower when...
in face of all the failures, instead of feeling frustrated, you draw every ounce of confidence in you and keep going and going, firmly believing that eventually, you'll succeed if you persist...
- You plant a flower when...
you're just in a plain bad mood, instead of being pissed off (excuse me), you let it be, smile and let it pass…
- You plant a flower when...
you're in a very difficult situation, instead of being fearful, you face up to it with confidence knowing that being fearful will not help solve any problem but instead, that confidence will draw all the positive energy you need to solve any problem...
- You plant a flower when…
you feel angry about all the injustices and all that is wrong with this world, instead blaming the world you try to contribute your own small share of goodness for mankind knowing that peace and justice of the world starts with you…
- You plant a flower when...
some nice kid here at the saddo's sez something not so nice, instead of being irked, and retaliating, you just smile and turn the other cheek, and reply with kindness and sincerity…
- You plant a flower when…
you had a particularly bad day, instead of whining and sulking, you look forward towards better days ahead…
- You plant a flower when…
on an incredibly ordinary day when you feel just a bit bored and low, you choose to bring back that spark of little joy in your heart and be just a little bit happier instead.
- And, you keep your heart's garden hale and radiant when...
despite everything seemingly gloomy, doomy and going wrong, you keep that light of hope shining somewhere deep down your heart, always.
They say hope springs eternal in man's heart; so let that hope keep on 'springing' in your hearts. Because hope is the essential life-spring that waters your hearts garden, and it is also the sunshine that feeds your flowers and illuminates your garden, keeping it hale and radiant. Without hope, your heart will be as dark and wretched as a dungeon and you will perish without it. Keep that spark of hope in your heart - that often subtle, yet deep, feeling that everything will be all right and that something good lays ahead.
And... if you persist, eventually you’ll have built your own garden of thousand flowers in your heart, and when that happens, nothing - absolutely nothing - can shake you again…
- by pacfan on 1/1/09
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"Think only beautiful thoughts" - Deng Xiaoping.
