blessings

And when the war broke out, its real horrors, its real dangers, its menace of real death were a blessing compared with the inhuman reign of the lie, and they brought relief because they broke the spell of the dead letter.

Disciple: But the Bathhouse Sutra says, "By contributing to the bathing of monks, people receive limitless blessings." This would appear to be an instance of external practice achieving merit. How does this relate to beholding the mind? Bodhidharma: . . . Our true buddha-nature has no shape. And the dust of affliction has no form. How can people use ordinary water to wash an intangible body? It won't work. . . . To clean such a body you have to behold it. Once impurities and filth arise from desire, they multiply until they cover you inside and out. But if you try to wash this body of yours, you'll have to scrub until it's nearly gone before it's clean.

Blessed are you, my Lord Jesus Christ. Fearing your passion and death, you poured forth blood from your innocent body like sweat, and still you accomplished your redemption as you desired and gave us the clearest proof of your love for all men. Eternal blessing be yours, my Lord Jesus Christ, because in your last agony you held out to sinners the hope of pardon, when in your mercy you promised the glory of paradise to the penitent thief. Blessed may you be, my Lord Jesus Christ. You redeemed our souls with your precious blood and most holy death, and in your mercy you led them from exile back to eternal life.

If why is the question, then I have the answer For the blessing and not for the curse For satisfaction and not for hunger For life and not for death For truth, compassion, and justice

The Book: "So he settled on a method to help him succeed in his quest. He devised a little book and set it up in such a way that he could examine himself and mark his progress at the end of each day." "I entered upon the execution of this plan for self-examination and continued it, with occasional intermission, but I always carried my little book with me. . . ." "And it may be well my posterity should be informed that to this little artifice with the blessing of God, their ancestor owed the constant felicity of his life down to his seventy-ninth year in which this is written. . . . I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefits."

When indignation takes possession of his mind - and it is easily excited - his disposition becomes malevolent. He hates with the bitterest contempt. But as soon as he has indulged those feelings, he regains the humanity which he had lost - from the immediate impulse of provocation - and repents deeply. So that his mind is continually making the most sudden transitions - from good to evil, from evil to good. A state of such perpetual tumult must be attended with the misery of restless inconsistency. He laments his want of tranquillity and speaks of the power of application to composing studies, as a blessing placed beyond his attainment, which he regrets.

MONEY, n. A blessing that is of no advantage to us excepting when we part with it. An evidence of culture and a passport to polite society. Supportable property.

IMPOSITION, n. The act of blessing or consecrating by the laying on of hands - a ceremony common to many ecclesiastical systems, but performed with the frankest sincerity by the sect known as Thieves.

It is in the plan that man should die. The rich, the poor; the bond, the free; the great, the lowly-all must die. Death comes to everyone. Death * a necessary step to our eterrzal progression. But death is not the end, it is only a transitional state whereby we move from one stage of action to another. The spirit continues to live, move, think, learn, and to engage in all those activities associated with existence in our next estate. The physical body is placed in the grave, there to remain until the time of our resurrection. The change called death is ordained of God awl is a blessing to man. It would be tragic if men could never be released from mortality that they might put on immortality. Death releases man from his mortal existence and makes possible his onward progress toward eterrzal life and exaltation.

Before every action ask yourself. Will this bring more monkeys on my back. Will the result of my action be a blessing or a heavy burden?