#awareness

When one goes to Obaku temple in Kyoto he sees carved over the gate the words “The First Principle”. The letters are unusually large, and those who appreciate calligraphy always admire them as being a mastepiece.  They were drawn by Kosen two hundred years ago.

When the master drew them he did so on paper, from which the workmen made the large carving in wood. As Kosen sketched the letters a bold pupil was with him who had made several gallons of ink for the calligraphy and who never failed to criticise his master’s work.

“That is not good,” he told Kosen after his first effort.

“How is this one?”

“Poor. Worse than before,” pronounced the pupil.

Kosen patiently wrote one sheet after another until eighty-four First Principles had accumulated, still without the approval of the pupil.

Then when the young man stepped outside for a few moments, Kosen thought: “Now this is my chance to escape his keen eye,” and he wrote hurriedly, with a mind free from distraction: “The First Principle.”

“A masterpiece,” pronounced the pupil.

Provided he makes and wins an argument about Buddhism with those who live there, any wondering monk can remain in a Zen temple. If he is defeated, he has to move on.

In a temple in the northern part of Japan two brother monks were dwelling together. The elder one was learned, but the younger one was stupid and had but one eye.

A wandering monk came and asked for lodging, properly challenging them to a debate about the sublime teachings. The elder brother, tired that day from much studying, told the younger one to take his place. “Go and request the dialogue in silence,” he cautioned.

So the young monk and the stranger went to the shrine and sat down.

Shortly afterwards the traveler rose and went in to the elder brother and said:  "Your young brother is a wonderful fellow. He defeated me.“

"Relate the dialogue to me,” said the elder one.

“Well,” explained the traveler, “first I held up one finger, representing Buddha, the enlightened one. So he held up two fingers, signifying Buddha and his teaching. I held up three fingers, representing Buddha, his teaching, and his followers, living the harmonious life. Then he shook his clenched fist in my face, indicating that all three come from one realization. Thus he won and so I have no right to remain here.” With this, the traveler left.

“Where is that fellow?” asked the younger one, running in to his elder brother.

“I understand you won the debate.”

“Won nothing. I’m going to beat him up.”

“Tell me the subject of the debate,” asked the elder one.

“Why, the minute he saw me he held up one finger, insulting me by insinuating that I have only one eye. Since he was a stranger I thought I would be polite to him, so I held up two fingers, congratulating him that he has two eyes. Then the impolite wretch held up three fingers, suggesting that between us we only have three eyes. So I got mad and started to punch him, but he ran out and that ended it!”

When people invented the isekai trope of “human summoned to another world, losing everything with the imminent threat of never returning home, and being enslaved all for the sake of cleaning up someone else’s mess”—

Did anyone else make the connection that when humans summon demons, spirits, or in some cases angels we are doing the exact same thing to them?

Before you recycle, replenish and restore!

teampapaya:

stop calling what is happening between israel and palestine a “conflict.” a conflict infers both sides have an equal power. what is happening in palestine shows none of that. this isn’t a conflict, it’s ethnic cleansing, oppression, and apartheid. 

Before we name our roles, let’s be frank: everyone working with YVUK is a volunteer. Everyone. We’re a tiny outfit with one inglorious aim: to help young voters understand the murky world of British politics. 

At the moment, we operate from two laptops in the home counties in the hours we can spare when we’re not at our day jobs or handling the responsibilities of life. 

So these roles won’t offer any compensation beyond the satisfaction of building something hopefully momentous. In the last 3 weeks of the election, we reached over 10,000 people on Twitter and currently average 60-100 interactions per post on Tumblr. This all in our first month of operation.

If that’s enough for you, welcome aboard!

We’re looking for:

• Content writers
  
• Social media team
  
• YouTube team
• Graphic designers 
  
• Awareness volunteers (hanging posters, dropping leaflets etc)
  

If you’re even the slightest bit interested in any of the roles mentioned here, or if you think you can contribute in some other way, please email [email protected] for more details. You can also leave a message in our Ask Box here. 

don’t worry children of the stars, our struggles are planned by the gods, little do we know it leads to something much greater.

Soul Of Creation- Ann Beeching

Light Body- Marcos Alvarado