AWARENESS STORIES
· Aloneness
· Appearances
· Being
· Bondage
· Challenge
· Detachment
· Distinction
· Dropping Knowledge
· Get Rid of Fear
· I Am Making Progress
· I Created You!
· Impoverishment
· Letting Go
· Meaning
· Miracles
· Prayer Methods
· Remote Control
· Repression
· Sadness in Beauty
· Salvation
· Selflessness
· Sensitivity
· Service
· Shadow Boxing
· Sleepwalking
· Speechlessness
· Subhuti and the Flower Shower
· The Secrets of Heaven and Hell
· Unobtrusiveness
· Wisdom
Aloneness
To a disciple who was always seeking answers from him the Master said, "You have
within yourself the answer to every question you propose -- if you only knew how to look
for it."
And another day he said, "In the Land of the spirit, you cannot walk by the light of
someone else's lamp. You want to borrow mine. I'd rather teach you how to make your
own."
Anthony de Melo, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Appearances
The Master always frowned on anything that seemed sensational. "The divine," he
claimed, "is only found in the ordinary."
To a disciple who was attempting forms of asceticism that bordered on the bizarre the
Master was heard to say, "Holiness is a mysterious thing: The greater it is, the less it is
noticed."
Anthony de Mello, S.J.
"One Minute Wisdom"
Being
"What must I do to attain holiness?" said a traveler.
"Follow your heart," said the Master.
That seemed to please the traveler.
Before he left, however, the Master said to him in a whisper, "To follow your heart you
are going to need a strong constitution."
Anthony de Mello, S.J.
"One Minute Wisdom"
Bondage
To a fearful religious visitor the Master said, "Why are you so anxious?"
"Lest I fail to attain Salvation."
"And what is Salvation?"
"Moksha. Liberation. Freedom."
The Master roared with laughter and said, "So you are forced to be free? You are bound
to be liberated?"
At that minute the visitor relaxed and lost his fear forever.
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Challenge
An easygoing disciple complained that he had never experienced the Silence that the
Master frequently commended.
Said the Master, "Silence only comes to active people."
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Detachment
It intrigued the disciples that the Master who lived so simply would not condemn his
wealthy followers.
"It is rare but not impossible for someone to be rich and holy," he said one day.
"How?"
"When money has the effect on his heart that the shadow of that bamboo has on the
courtyard."
The disciples turned to watch the bamboo's shadow sweep the courtyard without stirring
a single particle of dust.
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Distinction
The Master was strolling with some of his disciples along the bank of a river.
He said, "See how the fish keep darting about wherever they please. That's what they
really enjoy.
A stranger overhearing that remark said, "How do you know what fish enjoy? You're not
a fish."
The disciples gasped at what they took for impudence. The Master smiled at what he
recognized as a fearless spirit of inquiry.
He replied affably, "And you, my friend, how do you know I am not a fish? You are not
I."
The disciples laughed, taking this to be a well-deserved rebuff. Only the stranger was
struck by its depth.
All day he pondered it, then came to the monastery to say, "Maybe you are not as
different from the fish as I thought. Or I from you."
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Dropping Knowledge
Naropa was a great scholar, a great pundit. This story happened before he became
enlightened. It is said that he was the great vice-chancellor of a great university, ten
thousand disciples of his own. One day he was sitting surrounded by his disciples. All
around him were scattered thousands of scriptures, very ancient, rare.
Suddenly he fell asleep and he had a vision. It is so significant that to call it a dream
won't be just - it was a vision.
He saw a very old, ugly, horrible woman, a hag. Her ugliness was so much that he started
trembling in his sleep. She asked, "Naropa, what are you doing?"
He said, "I am studying."
"What are you studying?" asked the old woman.
He said," Philosophy, religion, epistemology, language, logic...."
The old woman asked, "Do you understand them?"
Naropa said, "Yes, I understand them."
The woman asked again, "Do you understand the word, or the sense?" And her eyes were
so penetrating that it was impossible to lie to her. Before her eyes Naropa felt completely
naked, transparent.
He said, "I understand the words."
The woman started dancing and laughing and her ugliness was transformed. A subtle
beauty started coming out of her being.
Naropa thought, "I have made her so happy, why not make her a little more happy?" So
he added, "Yes, and I understand the sense also."
The woman stopped laughing, stopped dancing. She started weeping and crying, and all
her ugliness was back - a thousand fold more.
Naropa asked, "why?"
The woman said, "I was happy because a great scholar like you didn't lie. But now I am
crying because you have lied to me. I know, and you know, that you don't understand the
sense."
The vision disappeared - and Naropa was transformed. He left the university, he never
again touched a scripture in his life. He understood.
A man of wisdom, a man of understanding, has a freshness about him, a fragrant life,
totally different from a pundit, from a man of knowledge. One who understands the sense
becomes beautiful, one who only understands the word becomes ugly. And the woman is
just a projection of Naropas inner part, his own being, become ugly through knowledge.
Naropa went in search. Now scriptures won't help, now a living Master is needed.
Author Unknown
Get Rid of Fear
"How shall I rid myself of fear?"
"How can you rid yourself of what you cling to?"
"You mean I actually cling to my fears? I cannot agree to that."
"Consider what your fear protects you from and you will agree! And you will see your
folly."
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
I Am Making Progress
Yen Hui said, "I am making progress."
Confucius asked, "In what way?"
Yen Hui said, "I have given up doing good and being right."
Confucius said, "Very good, but that is not quite enough."
Another day, Yen Hui saw Confucius and said, "I am making progress."
Confucius asked, "In what way?"
Yen Hui said, "I have given up ceremony and music."
Confucius said, "Very good, but that is not quite enough."
Another day, Yen Hui saw Confucius again and said, "I am making progress." Confucius
asked, "In what way?"
Yen Hui said, "I just sit and forget."
Confucius was startled and asked, "What do you mean by sitting and forgetting?"
Yen Hui said, "I am not attached to the body and I give up any idea of knowing. By
freeing myself from the body and mind, I become one with the infinite. This is what I
mean by sitting and forgetting."
Confucius said, "When there is oneness, there are no preferences. When there is change,
there is no constancy. If you have really attained this, then let me become your pupil."
I Created You!
One day, as usually was the case, a young waif, a little girl, stood at the street corner
begging for food, money or wathever she could get. Now this girl was wearing very
tattered clothes; she was dirty and quite disheveled.
As it happens, a well-to-do young man passed that corner without giving the girl a second
look. But when he returned to his expensive home, his happy and comfortable family,
and his well-laden dinner table, his thoughts returned to the young waif and he became
very angry at God for allowing such conditions to exist.
He reproached God, saying, "How can you let this happens? Why don't you do something
to help this girl?"
Then he heard God in the depths of his being respond by saying, "I did. I created You!"
Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R.
"The Sower's Seeds"
Impoverishment
When a disciple came from a faraway country, the Master asked, "What are you
seeking?"
"Enlightenment."
"You have your own treasure house. Why do you search outside?"
"Where is my treasure house?"
"This seeking that has come upon you."
At that moment the disciple was Enlightened. Years later he would say to his friends,
"Open your own treasure house and enjoy your treasures."
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Letting Go
"What must I do for Enlightenment? "
"Nothing."
"Why not?"
"Because Enlightenment doesn't come from doing? It happens."
"Then can it never be attained?"
"Oh yes it can."
"How?"
"Through non doing."
"And what does one do to attain non doing?"
"What does one do to go to sleep or to wake up?"
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Meaning
Said a traveler to one of the disciples, "I have traveled a great distance to listen to the
Master, but I find his words quite ordinary."
"Don't listen to his words. Listen to his message."
"How does one do that?"
"Take hold of a sentence that he says. Shake it well till all the words drop off. What is left
will set your heart on fire."
Anthony de Mello, S.J.
"One Minute Wisdom"
Miracles
A story of Rinzai:
One of his disciples was talking with another religious master's disciple who said, "Our
master is a man of miracles. He can do anything he wants. I have seen many miracles he
has done, I have witnessed them myself. What is the great thing about your master? What
miracles can he do?"
And the disciple of Rinzai said, "The greatest miracle my master can do is not to do
miracles."
Author Unknown
Prayer Methods
The disciple asks his master, " What can I do to attain God?"
The master answers by asking, "What can you do to make the sun rise?"
The disciple says indignantly, "Then why are you giving us all these methods of prayer?"
And the master replies, "To make sure you're awake when the sun rises."
Brian Cavanugh, T.O.R.
"The Sower's Seeds"
Remote Control
To a shy disciple who wanted to become self-confident the Master said, "You look for
certainty in the eyes of others and you think that is self-confidence."
"Shall I give no weight to the opinion of others, then?"
"On the contrary. Weigh everything they say, but do not be controlled by it."
"How does one break the control?"
"How does one break a delusion?"
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Repression
The Master had been on his deathbed in a coma for weeks. One day he suddenly opened
his eyes to find his favorite disciple there.
"You never leave my bedside, do you?" he said softly.
"No, Master. I cannot."
"Why?"
"Because you are the light of my life.''
The Master sighed. "Have I so dazzled you, my son, that you still refuse to see the light in
you?"
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Sadness in Beauty
The old man with the bent shoulders came out of the rain, furling his rice-paper umbrella
as if it were a ship's sail. With some deliberation he climbed the slate step and crept past
the carved stone pot into which clear water flowed from a cut length of bamboo just
above.
There he paused a moment, cocking his head like the most attentive of pupils, listening to
the confluence of sounds: the pitter-patter of the rain at his back, the cheery gurgle of the
flowing water at his side. There was within that mingling, he thought, the precise mix of
the melancholy and the joyous that made life so exquisite to live. "There is sadness in
beauty," he recalled his father telling him as a child. "When you can understand that, you
will no longer be a boy."
Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R.
"The Sower's Seeds"
Salvation
"Is salvation obtained through action or through meditation?"
"Through neither. Salvation comes from seeing."
"Seeing what?"
"That the gold necklace you wish to acquire is hanging round your neck. That the snake
you are so frightened of is only a rope on the ground."
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Selflessness
An affluent industrialist said to the Master, "What do you do for a profession?"
"Nothing," said the Master.
The industrialist laughed scornfully. "Isn't that laziness?"
"Heavens no. Laziness is mostly the vice of very active people."
Later the master said to his disciples, "Do nothing and all things will be done through
you. Doing nothing really takes a lot of doing. Try it!"
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Sensitivity
"How shall I experience my oneness with creation?"
"By listening," said the Master.
"And how am I to listen?"
"Become an ear that gives heed to every single thing the universe is saying. The moment
you hear something you yourself are saying, stop.'
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Service
The master was known to favor action over withdrawal. But he always insisted on
"Enlightened" action.
The disciples wanted to know what "Enlightened" meant. Did it mean "right-
intentioned"?
"Oh no," said the Master. "Think how right-intentioned the monkey is when he lifts a fish
from the river to save it from the watery grave."
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Shadow Boxing
To newcomers the Master would say, "Knock and the door will be opened to you."
To some of them he would later say conspiratorially, "How would you expect the door to
be opened when it has never been shut?"
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Sleepwalking
The Master's expansive mood emboldened his disciples to say, "Tell us what you got
from Enlightenment. Did you become divine?"
"No."
"Did you become a saint?"
"No."
"Then what did you become?"
"Awake."
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Speechlessness
"Of what use is your learning and your devotions? Does a donkey become wise through
living in a library or a mouse acquire holiness from living in a church?"
"What is it, then, we need?"
"A heart."
"How does one get that?"
The Master would not say. What could he say that they wouldn't turn into a subject to be
learned or an object of devotion?
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Subhuti and the Flower Shower
Subhuti was Buddha's disciple. He was able to understand the potency of emptiness, that
nothing exists except in its relationship of subjectivity and objectivity. One day, in a
mood of sublime emptiness, Subhuti was resting underneath a tree when flowers began to
fall about him.
"We are praising you for your discourse on emptiness," the gods whispered to Subhuti.
"But I have not spoken of emptiness," replied Subhuti.
"You have not spoken of emptiness, we have not heard emptiness," responded the gods.
"This is the true emptiness." The blossoms showered upon Subhuti as rain.
Found at: Ubiquity Web Page
The Secrets of Heaven and Hell
The old monk sat by the side of the road. With his eyes closed, his legs crossed and his
hands folded in his lap, he sat. In deep meditation, he sat.
Suddenly his zazen was interrupted by the harsh and demanding voice of a samurai
warrior. "Old man! Teach me about heaven and hell!"
At first, as though he had not heard, there was no perceptible response from the monk.
But gradually he began to open his eyes, the faintest hint of a smile playing around the
corners of his mouth as the samurai stood there, waiting impatiently, growing more and
more agitated with each passing second.
"You wish to know the secrets of heaven and hell?" replied the monk at last. "You who
are so unkempt. You whose hands and feet are covered with dirt. You whose hair is
uncombed, whose breath is foul, whose sword is all rusty and neglected. You who are
ugly and whose mother dresses you funny. You would ask me of heaven and hell?"
The samurai uttered a vile curse. He drew his sword and raised it high above his head.
His face turned to crimson and the veins on his neck stood out in bold relief as he
prepared to sever the monk's head from its shoulders.
"That is hell," said the old monk gently, just as the sword began its descent. In that
fraction of a second, the samurai was overcome with amazement, awe, compassion and
love for this gentle being who had dared to risk his very life to give him such a teaching.
He stopped his sword in mid-flight and his eyes filled with grateful tears.
"And that," said the monk, "is heaven."
Fr. John W. Groff Jr.
"A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul"
Editor: Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
Unobtrusiveness
A man of spiritual repute came to the Master and said, "I cannot pray, I cannot
understand the Scriptures, I cannot do the exercises that I prescribe to others .
"Then give it all up," said the Master cheerfully.
"But how can I? I am supposed to be a holy man and have a following in these parts."
Later the Master said with a sigh: "Holiness today is a name without a reality. It is only
genuine when it is a reality without a name."
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
Wisdom
It always pleased the Master to hear people recognize their ignorance.
"Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one's awareness of one's ignorance," he claimed.
When asked for an explanation, he said, "When you come to see you are not as wise
today as you thought you were yesterday, you are wiser today."
Anthony de Mello, SJ
"One Minute Wisdom"
