Saturday, July 25, 2009

Zen and the Bible

over the past year or so, i have been slowly but surely been reading my way through the Old Testament... Christians keep telling me to read the new one, but hang on, first things first!

Anyway, i have always been a fan of Zen Bhuddist philosophy, which goes perfectly with my Kung Fu training. We have a Christian friend at my Kung Fu club, the other day as she was leaving i says to her, "Bhudda bless you" and she says, "I hate Bhudda!"

there are no accidents or coincidences, which is why this is perfect timing with where i'm up to in the Bible, a chapter called "Ecclesiastes". Its my favorite part so far. Check these quotes, they are so Zen:

1:2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless".

2:15 Then I said to myself,
the fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?
I said to myself, "this too is meaningless".

4:4 And i saw that all toil and all acheivement spring from one person's envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind

and my favorite:

4:6 Better one handful with tranquility, than two handfuls with toil...

so if you're wondering, what exactly is Zen? Here's a quote from some guy Alan Watts who seems to get it:

"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes."

mmm potatoes!

3 comments:

yermama said...

"Behold! The jewel in the Lotus."

Askew One said...

Ultimately it seems everyone is having the same argument but dressing it in different clothes.

PHAT1 said...

bro i read the same thing today...mean bro keep it up....read the end of that book and your see why 'Life is meaningless'.....:)