The Rule
Monasteries typically have what’s called The Rule. You can think of it as a handy daily set of reminders.
The Rule of St. Benedict emerged in approximately the sixth century, and became a guide for monks and nuns, hermits and contemplatives. It also became 73 chapters long. Some Rules were guides to daily living, practices and chores. Others were books of questions and answers. Buddhist Rules sometimes became so detailed as to describe proper toilet etiquette.
THE RULE of The Little Creek Monastery
The Monastery’s main purpose is to share, experience and promote a simple, relaxed Way of living. With humor.
Our members strive… To be calm and relaxed — on behalf of ourselves and all that we affect.
When I forget my ways, I am in The Way.
The monastery is in you.
Here and there we’ve gotten a few things just a little bit backwards.
Most people have an open mind, right up until the moment they encounter the things that close it.
The longer I keep things at a distance, the closer they get.
The things that matter the most, don’t matter. Some people might take that to mean that they don’t matter in the end. But the thing is, the things that matter the most, never mattered that much in the first place.
I keep trying to make things simple. It’s complicated.
Somewhere between right and wrong is where fault and blame are no longer important.
I think what we are all really after, when you boil away all the things that don’t count, is what’s left.
The moon is only full once a month. Wine is not made in one day. But “slow and steady” is burned at the stake.
Complexity is good, as long as it’s kept simple.
It was easy for her to let go as long as she had something to hold on to.
People who act like they understand life, don’t. And people who don’t act like they understand life, don’t.
As a seeker of Truth, it is not blasphemous or irreverent to question or challenge. It is blasphemous to do the opposite.
Anything is possible, as long as you make the right connections.
When our minds are so busy thinking, there’s no room for thoughts. It’s like a room full of cats with no door: there’s only room for cats. Add a door, and cats can come and go.
“Close your mind! There’s an emergency to be afraid of!”
To help people feel hopeless, crowds were created to get lost in.
The mind cannot be imprisoned by a prison, but the mind is often imprisoned.
The naked truth can be like looking down at your open bathrobe: it can scare you or motivate you.
Some thoughts are weeds, while others are flowers.
The first steps of the inner journey are the hardest — you’re out of shape.
Time is a ghost, an illusion. Don’t believe it? Just try touching it.
She wonders why no one can see the real her, but she can’t find it either.
When our vision suffers, we get corrective lenses. It just might be possible that you are not quite as correct as you believe.
Live your life in the middle of heaven and earth. That way, you won’t have that far to go if you’re either too down or too up.
Get good at improving yourself first… you can always branch out to others later.
Family relationships: We pretty much mostly mean well, it just doesn’t always go well.
The mind is free to leave the room it’s in at any time. Who, exactly, is keeping your trap doors closed?
It’s easy to understand why angels and spiritual beings are so hard to see… they are coming out of a really bright light. It tends to make you squint.
There is no shame or judgment when you walk naked into heaven, unless you decide to bring it with you — in which case they show you the door.
It seems reasonable that if God does not believe in atheists, atheists must not exist either. Yet, they do appear to exist. Naturally, this implies that God exists. Otherwise, atheists would not be here.
Beneath the surface lay the teachers we listen to the most. Their names are Fear, Doubt and Selfishness. These are the gods we flirt with, our blasphemous trinity.
Life conspires to push us into failure, disorder and disease, so that we will finally let go, relax and become true to our inner compass.
One of the problems in discussing life and death, is a misunderstanding of the terms.
And if you could wrap your hands around a soul, what exactly would you do with it?
I like things that make you think, but are hard to disagree with. It builds consensus. Consensus building is good, because it’s a first cousin of inclusiveness.
It seems that each of us has things that are obscured.
There is a feeling, an ingrained belief we seem to share, that an understanding of the deeper things in life should be free. Well, they are, except that we pay a hell of a price getting there.
Jiu Jitsu is a thinking man’s art, until you learn not to think.
I wonder what begat the beginning? Or who begat racism? Who begat close-mindedness? Or self-centeredness?
The messenger rings his bell each night. As we sleep and dream, he prowls the streets and back alleys of our subconscious minds. Who is the one hiding? Him or me?
He or she who controls the center, wins. This needs to be studied. In part, because it’s less about ‘controlling’ the center than ‘being’ the center. In part, because yes, the center is calm, but also because the center can be devastating in its explosiveness.