More from the Dhammapada! I have no idea which verses these are or how the stanzas go because I got this in an e-mail and the formatting didn't carry over.

Master your senses,
What you taste and smell,
What you see,
what you hear.

In all things be a master
Of what you do and say and think.
Be free.

Are you quiet?
Quieten your body.
Quieten your mind.
By your own efforts
Waken yourself,
watch yourself,
And live joyfully.

Follow the truth of the way.
Reflect upon it.
Make it your own.
Live it.
It will always sustain you.

Here I will post the first two verses of the Dhammapada, comments and interpretations are welcome.

1

Phenomena are preceded by the heart,
ruled by the heart,
made of the heart.
If you speak or act with a corrupted heart,
then suffering follows you -- as the wheel of the cart,
the track of the ox that pulls it.

2

Phenomena are preceded by the heart,
ruled by the heart,
made of the heart.
If you speak or actwith a calm, bright heart,
then happiness follows you,
like a shadow that never leaves.

Along with the previous post:

"When this is, that is.
From the arising of this comes the arising of that.
When this isn't, that isn't.
From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that."

- Buddha, on the nature of cause-effect.

Neither from itself nor from another,
Nor from both,
Nor without a cause,
Does anything whatever, anywhere arise.

-Nagarjuna, Mulamadhyamaka-Karika
From "365 Buddha: Daily Meditations"

Today I played my first game of Croquet and it was strangely fun. I guess if you can hit little balls around on a felt table, you can hit bigger balls around on some grass. So today was the BBQ. Fun was had. It is always interesting to hear what the adults like to talk about. Since I didn't really know many of the people at the party, I just kinda hung back and skulked around. Muahahaha, skulking! Umm... what else... nothing else? Um, okay!

It's raining in Manhatten. Thats what I said when we went over the bridge and I saw the skyline of the city cloaked in grey. It was raining on the bridge too. I am down in NY this weekend for a BBQ with my family and their friends. I wish I could have brought one of my friends down with me but there's really no one who would have been easily contacted on short notice, nor easily picked up and brought down here. Also, a lot of my friends have thier own families and probably don't want to get carted away for a few days. Ho hum! Here's hoping everyone is having a kicken' weekend!

Just a quickie update.

I just got back from seeing The Village. I agree with Leo, the movie is OK. It's certainly better than a lot of what gets pumped out of Hollywood and Mr. Shyamalan shows some superb talant as a director. Some of the scenes in this movie were a little clunky. It was just that early in the movie there were one or two scenes which had some confusing cuts. Shyamalan loves still shots and some of the best scenes are still and focus on one or two characters. The plot was good, though this movie is definatly not for someone looking for a light movie to watch on an off night. This movie has depth, but not as a movie. There are statements in the movie, and the whole thing made me sit and reflect for a second, but ultimately I descided that this was not meant to entertain me. I didn't mind not being entertained, but I am certain the movie was lost on the adolescent girls who sat in front of us (and almost repeated Leo's experience by talking the whole time). They got up and said, "That's the ending?" Yes, that is the ending, that is the message, and you won't get it until you read a book which has something equally deep to say. I suggest The Giver, or a short story such as "The Ones who walk away from Omelas." Those are good examples of plots which are vessals for deeper meaning. I am glad the plot of The Village was as transparent as it was, just so I can look and see whats behind it.

Also, if you've seen the commercial for the movie which features a song by Evanescence, it works. I at first thought, "Oh, they just got some popular band to lend them a song." No, the song fits... it fits so well that I believe Mr. Shyamalan picked the song as a way of hiding plot of the movie in plain sight.

Current State: Tired

Current Mood: Decent

Current Emote: ~_~

Current Tarot: Strength

Current Music: "Imaginary," Evanescence

"The birds have vanished down the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and I,
until only the mountain remains." - Li Po