Thoughts of a Jewish Buddhist

Or a Jewdhist!   I received this in the mail today - and found it funny. Maybe you'll like it too! Accept misfortune as a blessing. Do not wish for perfect health, or a life without problems. What would you talk about? Be aware of your body. Be aware of your perceptions. Keep in mind that not every physical sensation is a symptom of a terminal illness. Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated? Be patient and achieve all things. Be impatient and achieve all things faster.   Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Forget this and attaining Enlightenment will be the least of your problems. Drink tea and nourish life. With the first sip, joy. With the second, satisfaction. With the third, Danish. If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?  Let your mind be as a floating cloud. Let your stillness be as the wooded glen. And sit up straight. You'll never meet the Buddha with posture like that. The Buddha taught that one should practice loving kindness to all sentient beings. Still, would it kill you to find a nice sentient being who happens to be Jewish? The Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single "Oy."   The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others. The Tao does not speak. The Tao does not blame. The Tao does not take sides. The Tao is not Jewish. The Torah says, Love your neighbor as yourself. The Buddha says maybe there is no self. So maybe we're off the hook. There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that?   To Find the Buddha, look within. Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers. Each flower blossoms ten thousand times. Each blossom has ten thousand petals. You might want to see a specialist.   To know the Buddha is the highest attainment. Second highest is to go to the same doctor as the Buddha. To practice Zen and the art of Jewish motorcycle maintenance, do the following: get rid of the motorcycle. What were you thinking?   Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.   Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkes.