A nice little story I read some time ago:
A rabbi once met a Buddhist monk. The monk invited the rabbi into his temple, but the rabbi refused saying, "I am not allowed to enter a house of idol worship". The monk asked why. The rabbi answered, "Because worshipping an object is an affront to G-d".
The monk took a small Buddha statue out of his pocket, looked at the rabbi with a calm smile and threw the statue onto the ground, smashing it to pieces.
The monk asked the startled rabbi, "Now tell me, would you do that with your Torah scrolls? If not, who is it that makes idols?"
(Told by Aaron Moss)
The Rabbi And The Monk
- Pannapetar
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Re: The Rabbi And The Monk
Thanks Thomas
Great story!
Ben
Great story!
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cittasanto
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Re: The Rabbi And The Monk
it reminds me of a zen story of burning buddha statues.
LOL
can I pinch this story for a blog
LOL
can I pinch this story for a blog
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
- tiltbillings
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Re: The Rabbi And The Monk
That is a good story.
I like this story of the Christian missionary who approaches a Chinese monk who is sitting quietly in a temple and asks of the monk, "What are you doing?" The monk says, "You would say I am praying." The missionary then asks, "What are you praying for?" The monk says, "Nothing." Puzzled, the missionary asks, "Well, then, to whom are you praying?" The monk answers, "To no one." Perplexed, not understanding this at all, the missionary turns to leave and as he is walking away, the monk calls to the missionary and says, "And don't forget, there is no one praying."
I heard this years and years ago. Have no idea of the source.
I like this story of the Christian missionary who approaches a Chinese monk who is sitting quietly in a temple and asks of the monk, "What are you doing?" The monk says, "You would say I am praying." The missionary then asks, "What are you praying for?" The monk says, "Nothing." Puzzled, the missionary asks, "Well, then, to whom are you praying?" The monk answers, "To no one." Perplexed, not understanding this at all, the missionary turns to leave and as he is walking away, the monk calls to the missionary and says, "And don't forget, there is no one praying."
I heard this years and years ago. Have no idea of the source.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
Re: The Rabbi And The Monk
Perhaps Dorothy Figen, though I don't know where she got it from.tiltbillings wrote:I heard this years and years ago. Have no idea of the source.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... bl085.html
Re: The Rabbi And The Monk
Then there's the one about the rabbi, the priest and the chicken who walk into a bar ...
never mind
never mind
Rain soddens what is kept wrapped up,
But never soddens what is open;
Uncover, then, what is concealed,
Lest it be soddened by the rain.
But never soddens what is open;
Uncover, then, what is concealed,
Lest it be soddened by the rain.
Re: The Rabbi And The Monk
Was putting off meditating just now. This story made me smile, and laugh, and then want to meditate. Thank you.tiltbillings wrote:
I like this story of the Christian missionary who approaches a Chinese monk who is sitting quietly in a temple and asks of the monk, "What are you doing?" The monk says, "You would say I am praying." The missionary then asks, "What are you praying for?" The monk says, "Nothing." Puzzled, the missionary asks, "Well, then, to whom are you praying?" The monk answers, "To no one." Perplexed, not understanding this at all, the missionary turns to leave and as he is walking away, the monk calls to the missionary and says, "And don't forget, there is no one praying."
I heard this years and years ago. Have no idea of the source.
-dilexi
Re: The Rabbi And The Monk
I like tilt's and pannapetar's story. made me smile
Thag 1.20. Ajita - I do not fear death; nor do I long for life. I’ll lay down this body, aware and mindful.
Re: The Rabbi And The Monk
Yes indeed. Both made me smile.
Although the teller of pannapetar's story took some artistic license. I don't think Theravadin robes are capable of concealing buddha statues!
Although the teller of pannapetar's story took some artistic license. I don't think Theravadin robes are capable of concealing buddha statues!
Re: The Rabbi And The Monk
I remember reading on "the other site" a year or two ago the very same story, only the rupa the monk smashed was at the entrance to the monastery (I had pictured the monk picking up some three-foot tall stone Buddha with both hands over his head and smashing it to make a tremendous scene and then very quietly making his point to the aghast rabbi!).gene wrote:Although the teller of pannapetar's story took some artistic license. I don't think Theravadin robes are capable of concealing buddha statues!
"To reach beyond fear and danger we must sharpen and widen our vision. We have to pierce through the deceptions that lull us into a comfortable complacency, to take a straight look down into the depths of our existence, without turning away uneasily or running after distractions." -- Bhikkhu Bodhi
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." -- Heraclitus
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." -- Heraclitus
Re: The Rabbi And The Monk
lol Texans do like to think big.Tex wrote:I remember reading on "the other site" a year or two ago the very same story, only the rupa the monk smashed was at the entrance to the monastery (I had pictured the monk picking up some three-foot tall stone Buddha with both hands over his head and smashing it to make a tremendous scene and then very quietly making his point to the aghast rabbi!).gene wrote:Although the teller of pannapetar's story took some artistic license. I don't think Theravadin robes are capable of concealing buddha statues!
Nice anecdote as this story is I hope its circulation won't enourage hot-blooded young buddhists to take up statue-smashing to make a point about Buddhism's stance on idoltry. If I'm not mistaken I read somewhere that destroying images of the Buddha incurs bad karma. The Afghan Taliban was overthrown not long after its destruction of the Bamiyan statues.