Enlightenment Is: Absolute Cooperation With The Inevitable.

A Man Who Took Great Pride In His Lawn Found Himself With A Large Crop Of Dandelions. He Tried Every Method He Knew To Get Rid Of Them. Still They Plagued Him. Finally He Wrote The Department Of Agriculture. He Enumerated All The Things He Had Tried And Closed His Letter With The Question: "what Shall I Do Now?" In Due Course The Reply Came: "we Suggest You Learn To Love Them."

A Prisoner Lived In Solitary Confinement For Years. He Saw And Spoke To No One And His Meals Were Served Through An Opening In The Wall. One Day An Ant Came Into His Cell. The Man Contemplated It In Fascination As It Crawled Around The Room. He Held It In The Palm Of His Hand The Better To Observe It, Gave It A Grain Or Two, And Kept It Under His Tin Cup At Night. One Day It Suddenly Struck Him That It Had Taken Him Ten Long Years Of Solitary Confinement To Open His Eyes To The Loveliness Of An Ant.

The Master Persistently Warned Against The Attempt To Encompass Reality In A Concept Or A Name. A Scholar In Mysticism Once Asked, "when You Speak Of Being, Sir, Is It Eternal, Transcendent Being You Speak Of, Or Transient, Contingent Being?" The Master Closed His Eyes In Thought. Then He Opened Them, Put On His Most Disarming Expression, And Said, "yes!"

Everybody Was Talking About The Religious Man Who Committed Suicide. While No One In The Monastery Approved Of The Man's Action, Some Say They Admired His Faith. Faith?" Said The Master. He Had The Courage Of His Convictions, Didn't He?" That Was Fanaticism, Not Faith. Faith Demands A Greater Courage Still: To Reexamine One's Convictions And Reject Them If They Do Not Fit The Facts.

To A Woman Who Complained About Her Destiny The Master Said, "it Is You Who Make Your Destiny." "but Surely I Am Not Responsible For Being Born A Woman?" "being Born A Woman Isn't Destiny. That Is Fate. Destiny Is How You Accept Your Womanhood And What You Make Of It."