Wanna read a Zen story?

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Is That So?

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A beautiful girl in the village was pregnant. Her angry parents demanded to know who was the father. At first resistant to confess, the anxious and embarrassed girl finally pointed to Hakuin, the Zen master whom everyone previously revered for living such a pure life. When the outraged parents confronted Hakuin with their daughter's accusation, he simply replied "Is that so?"
When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care of the child since it was his responsibility. "Is that so?" Hakuin said calmly as he accepted the child.

For many months he took very good care of the child until the daughter could no longer withstand the lie she had told. She confessed that the real father was a young man in the village whom she had tried to protect. The parents immediately went to Hakuin to see if he would return the baby. With profuse apologies they explained what had happened. "Is that so?" Hakuin said as he handed them the child. 



My interpretation:
The story can be interpreted in various ways:
Some would say (and rightly so) that the Zen master should not have accepted the child and allowed the girl to get away with her lie. I have no argument against their approach and if I were in Zen master's place my nature would not allow me to accept the child.

But when I try to understand the response of Zen Master ("Is that so?"). The Zen Master is a person who does not have attachment with the world. So he is not worried about people's opinion of him whether they like him or hate him. He is a detached observer. He is wise too. So he would not come to conclusions without hearing both sides of a story.

Hence his response is in sync with his wisdom and detachment - a passive challenge to the accusers and an invitation to look more deeply into the matter.


I am grateful for the original comments:

1. Perhaps it is too obvious that "Is that so?" is both a passive challenge to the accusers and an invitation to look more deeply into the matter -- both of which were repeatedly declined. The Hakuin wisely declines to force the issue, accepting minor injustice while avoiding greater disharmony.
2. The master has achieved complete acceptance of every person, situation and emotion. He has no fear of being unjustly labeled. He receives the child and gives up the child with the same peace of mind. He is both a detached observer and a complete participant.

P.S : The last "Is that so?" also has an interpretation. Can you find it?

Source: http://users.rider.edu/~suler/zenstory/isthatso.html

Dental health

Some facts on teeth

1. Teeth should be sparkling white (^)
   Reality: Kids have white teeth because they are new. As we grow our teeths will become yellow with age and that is perfectly alright You don't need sparkling white teeth to have healthy teeth.
   
   
2. Why are my canine teeth yellow compared to my other teeth?
I brush my teeth everyday. I brush my whole mouth, the back of the back etc. My teeth are pretty white, but my canines mess up my whole smile. Why are they less white?
Your canines are thicker than the rest in your mouth. They have a larger amount of dentine, and dentine enamel is more yellow than the enamel on your other teeth.


3. Why eating dessert during meal is a good idea?
   Eating dessert at end of meals was an old tradition in 1300's which has lost it's utility
   If you eat sugar, it's a good idea to wash it away with some other food rather than letting it sit on your teeth.
   
   Here's a story to illustrate this point:
   After dinner, you order some Chocolate Mousse Cake. As you eat the cake, the crust gets packed down into the grooves on the chewing surfaces of your back teeth and some might even get stuck in between your teeth. Depending on how much saliva you have — and you might not have very much — it could take over half an hour to wash away this sugary treat from your mouth! That means that your teeth could be exposed to harmful substances and their byproducts for over an hour.
   
   Now, suppose you had the cake first, and then ate a salad. The chewing action of the lettuce leaves would easily be able to wash away the cake, and your mouth would be free from the high concentration of sugar much more quickly. This is one reason that dental experts recommend eating sugar with meals. (Source: Oral Answers).
   
   Why dessert used to be eaten at end of dinner in earlier times?
   It started during the 1300's. During a time when food was prepared straight from being slaughtered to being cooked, then stored until dinner time. That the main course was not the greatest tasting item, even being a bit bitter and rancid in taste. That a sweet dessert was provided to basically help hold down the main course and to cleanse the pallet of those bad tastes. You must remember that herbs and spices that are a common additives these days along with refrigeration, it wasn't so available back in the past. It is a tradition that has stuck around for near a thousand years or longer, and one practice that I am glad that it survived. I may be a bit foggy about the time frame, but I am sure of the reason. I hope this helped, good luck.

Source: Known dentist and  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090928092550AAOYnug, http://www.oralanswers.com/2010/11/eat-dessert-first-for-healthier-teeth, http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100428120340AAZXbEZ

I want more!

On a holiday following would be my twitter posts:
9:00 AM: Checking my fb account.
10 AM: Checking my fb account. Disappointed! No new post.
12 PM: Checking my fb account again. No New posts. Bored!
3 PM: No new post. Irritated.
5 PM: No new interesting post. Exasperated. Regretting. Maybe I should have read something instead of wasting time on this silly site.

Next day.
9:00 AM: Checking my fb account.
...


Why this voracious need for more posts? :)

Pic Courtesy: http://jayroeder.com/2011/07/06/uncategorized/76-always-want-more/

Travelling and associated things

We travel to reach new places. Some find the time spent between going from A to B to be a hassle, restlessly twiddling their thumbs while some find it calming.

I belong to the later category. Travelling gives me time to self-reflect - Who am I? What do I want to become, on a professional and personal level.

Travelling also gives the time to admire the beautiful scenery of nature. It soothes the senses like nothing else can. Swathes of ploughed fields melding in the distant hills with the brightly shining sun.

I am also reminded of our unpleasant actions like a drainage filled with plastic litter producing stinking smell in the whole area and the mass populace living around it. If passing by this area arouses revulsion How are we going to live in it?

Garbage bins are placed on railway stations to dispose off plastic bottles, packets. I use them even If I have to search across the length of station. Now, I am getting pedantic! but worth it.

Strange Houses!

My LPG home gas cylinder is going to end in a few days. I should order a new cylinder.

Some villages outside city do not face my problem because they do not use LPG (or do not get LPG) But then What do the villages far off where LPG has not been able to reach (and Still there is a long queue of months for LPG connection!) do? ,especially during rains when dry wood will be scarce and expensive.

Those places use cow dung cakes as fuel  (Ya, You know that )and even save them in houses made of cow dung to be used during rains. (hmm..., May be you didn't know that)

The house is made using cowdung and it houses cowdung cakes. The cowdung cakes inside the house, I have been told by the lady making them, remain dry during whole year.

A cowdung house being constructed

A cowdung house 

I saw a lot of these structures filled with cowdung cakes during my visit to villages outside cities. They look beautiful, felt like climbing them (No I didn't climb them!)

Some Trivia :
Cow is a noble animal worshipped by Hindus. It is peaceful by nature. Religious texts say 36 crore gods reside in it (Don't ask me to name them!) in an indication that every byproduct of cow be it cow dung, cow urine, milk is useful to humans.

We give the first chapati of every meal to cow (Although grass would be better But Don't find any near my home)

"Cow is of the bovine ilk.
One end moo, the other end milk."
- Odgen Nash

What is the price of an object?

Some people say "The price of an object is what the buyer is ready to pay"

So let us say there is an essential object /service (such as drinking water) and if it costs a 100 rupees to provide an object/service and you are the only one providing it.  Then add long as the buyer is willing to pay it doesn't matter what you decide to charge - one million or one gazillion. Does it?

After all I guess you would'nt flinch to pay the above million/gazillion bucks if there was only one seller for it . No questions asked!

P. S.  Some would say this would never happen so why assume it? I concede their argument but Aren't men revealed when stakes are high?

A bus journey

I am going from Gazhiabad to Loni.An icecream wallah comes. The boy in front seat bus gets one, so does the elderly uncle sitting on the alternate side in front.
Uncle nibbles the Ice cream and dumps the stick where he is sitting.The little boy does the same (Although, He licks it clean). I have a revelation about why public transport is filthy. Mean while the bubble gum I have been chewing has become a rubbery tasteless mass. I will regurgitate like a buffalo till I find a disposal spot. Phew!