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We cannot truly be whole until we become one with ourselves. We must
believe in ourselves. We must care for ourselves. Then and only then can we be whole.
©JMC 72897 |
It is said that we are one with the earth. If this were true then why would we be
destroying it? Maybe it is because we cannot hear her screams. Maybe it is because we do
not care. Or maybe it is because we do not understand what it is we are supposed to do. We
should slow down and listen to what Mother Earth is trying to tell us. Maybe then we could
restore her to her natural beauty.
©JMC 72897 |
Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200 and a substantial tax cut save you 30 cents? |
The trouble with self-made men is that they worship their creator. |
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A road map will tell us everything we want to know except how to fold it up again. |
Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in
it.
-Henry Ford
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There's a surefire way to double your money; fold it in half and put it in your pocket.
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"People wish to learn to swim and at the same time keep one foot on the ground."
-Marcel
Proust
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It's tough to climb the ladder of success, especially when you're trying to keep your nose
to the grindstone, your shoulder to the wheel, your eye on the ball and you ear to the
ground.
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"After you've heard two eyewitness accounts of an auto accident it makes you wonder
about history."
-Bits & Pieces
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"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to
live to be a hundred."
-Woody Allen
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"A small town is a place where there's no place to go where you shouldn't."
-Burt
Bacharach
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"Consumers are statistics. Customers are people."
-Stanley Marcus
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"Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious."
-Peter Ustinov
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"Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real
owners."
-E. Joseph Cossman
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"Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving
taxicabs and cutting hair."
-George Burns
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"I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the
soul of the boy next to me."
-Woody Allen
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"When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice."
-Marquis
De La Grange
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The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."
-Dolly
Parton
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"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."
-Milton Berle
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"It's easy to identify people who can't count to ten. They're in front of you in the
supermarket express lane."
-June Henderson
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"Any child can tell you that the sole purpose of a middle name is so he can tell when
he's really in trouble."
-Dennis Fakes
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"We experience moments absolutely free from worry. These brief resputes are called
panic."
-Cullen Hightower
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"Nothing in fine print is ever good news."
-Andy Rooney
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"The point of living, and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to believe
the best is yet to come."
-Peter Ustinov
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"The surest way to be late is to have plenty of time."
-Leo Kennedy
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"Luck never gives; it only lends."
-Swedish proverb
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"The problem with jogging is that, by the time you realize you're not in shape for
it, it's too far to walk back."
-Franklin P. Jones
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"Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change
the locks."
-Doug Larson
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"Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six
children and no theories."
-John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
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"Everyone is in awe of the lion tamer in a cage with half a dozen lions-everyone but
a school bus driver."
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"A radical is a man with both feet planted in the air."
-Franklin Delano
Roosevelt
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"A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours."
-Milton Berle
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"Autumn is a season followed immediately by looking forward to spring."
-Doug
Larson
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"The best way to remember you wife's birthday is to forget it once."
-E.
Joseph Cossman
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"If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it,
it's golf."
-Bob Hope
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"If at first you succeed, don't take any more stupid chances."
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"Irony is when you buy a suit with two pairs of pants, and then burn a hole in the
coat."
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"If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be
remembered."
-Edgar Allan Poe
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"Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another
city."
-George Burns
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"Middle age is when your broad mind and narrow waist begin to change places."
-E.
Joseph Cossman
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"Be thankful for problems. If they were less difficult, someone with less ability
might have your job."
-Bits & Pieces
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"what do you mean we don't communicate? Just yesterday I faxed you a reply to the
recorded message you left on my answering machine."
-The Wall Street Journal
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The following are © of The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings by Thich Naht
Hanh.
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The gentle spring rain permeates the soil of my soul. A seed that has lain deeply
in the earth for many years, just smiles.
©Thich Naht Hanh "Cuckoo Telephone" in Call Me by My True Names p.176 |
All conditioned things are impermanent.
They are phenomena, subject to birth and death.
When birth and death no longer are,
the complete silencing is joy.
©Ekotta Agama 18 (Spoken by the Buddha before death) |
People talk endlessly about their suffering and their joy.
But what is there to suffer or be joyful about?
Joy from sensual pleasure always leads to pain,
and suffering while practicing the Way always brings joy.
Wherever there is joy, there is suffering.
If you want to have no suffering, you must accept no- joy.
Vietnamese poem |
Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at all beings with the eyes of love.
©Thich Naht Hanh in Present Moment Wonderful Moment p.3 |
I take refuge in the Buddha, the one who shows me the way in this life.
I take refuge in the Dharma, the way of understanding and love.
I take refuge in the Sangha, the community that lives in harmony and awareness.
Dwelling in the refuge of Buddha, I see clearly the path of light and beauty in the world.
Dwelling in the refuge of Dharma, I learn to open many doors on the path of
transformation.
Dwelling in the refuge of Sangha, I a supported by shining light that keeps my practice
free of obstacles.
Taking refuge in the Buddha in myself, I aspire to help all people recognize their own
awakened nature and realize the mind of love.
Taking refuge in the Dharma in myself, I aspire to help all people grasp the way of
practice and walk together on the path of liberation.
Taking refuge in the Sangha in myself, I aspire to help all people build fourfold
communities and encourage the transformation of all beings.
I entrust myself to Earth,
Earth entrusts herself to me.
I entrust myself to Buddha,
Buddha entrusts herself to me.
Say this when planting something.
All phenomena that arise interdependently,
I say that they are empty.
Words come to an end, because their message is false.
Words come to an end, because there is a Middle Way.Going back, taking refuge in the Buddha in myself,
I vow, together with all beings, to realize the Great Way in order to
give rise to the highest mind (bodhichitta).
Going back, taking refuge in the Dharma in myself,
I vow, together with all beings, to realize understanding and wisdom as immense
as the ocean.
Going back, taking refuge in the Sangha in myself,
I vow, together with all beings, to help build a Sangha without obstacles.
Buddha is the teacher showing the way,
the perfectly awakened one,
beautifully seated, peaceful and smiling,
the living source of understanding and compassion.
Dharma is the clear path
leading us out of ignorance
bringing us back to an awakened life.
Sangha is the beautiful community
that practices joy,
realizing liberation,
bringing peace and happiness to life.
©Mahaprajñaparamite Shastra |
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