The Vow of Silence

Late 14th Century, China: Three students decided that, for spiritual purposes, they would take a Vow of Silence. It was only for the weekend, but they felt sure it would help them.

Meeting at the the first student's home, they silently meditated during the morning and the afternoon. In the late afternoon, first student as their host gestured for a servant to bring tea.

The servant brought the tea, but spilt it. "Clumsy!" exclaimed the first student.

"You spoke!" said the second.

"I am the only one who has not spoken," said the third.

The Ages of Man

Somewhere I've read about an old Chinese view about how a man's life should unfold:

As a child, one plays.
As a youth, one studies.
As a young man, you join the army.
As a grown man, you engage in commerce.
As an established man, you marry.
As a married man, you raise children.
As an older man, you retire and engage in community service.

This seems like a pretty good plan to me.

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One Never Knows, Do One ...

One day Chuang-tzu and a friend were walking along a riverbank. Chuang-tzu pointed to the fish.

"How delightfully the fishes are enjoying themselves in the water!" he exclaimed.

"You are not a fish," his friend said. "How do you know whether or not the fishes are enjoying themselves?"

"You are not me," Chuang-tzu said. "How do you know that I do not know that the fishes are enjoying themselves?"

Law 23 regarding the word 'Why'

This is a simple law of nature, but one which is very handy:

If you ask somebody why they did something, you'll get only justification and very little useful information.

That's it.

Generally speaking, in a conversation, if you ask your buddy Joe why he started a fight with Alvin, you won't get much useful information. The human reaction to having motives questioned is often an automatic marshalling of justification. Joe might say, for example, that Alvin had it coming and that Alvin had been bugging Joe for a long time.

On the other hand, try using an alternate wording. Instead of asking why, try asking "what led you to ..." For example, you'd ask Joe "What led you to get into a fight with Alvin?" In this case, often his answer will be somewhat different. He might say, for example, "I don't like him much, and when he stuck his finger up my nose, I lost my temper and hit him."

Asking "why" is usually a waste of time; asking "what led you to" generally provides a better picture of what happened.

Knowing this important secret of the universe, go forth and prosper.

Rabbi Moishe

Rome, 1847: The Pope announced that all Jews, not being Christian, as is proper, would have to leave Italy. Of course, there was a great outcry, and so for appearance sake, the Pope announced that he would debate the matter with one of the Rabbis. If the Rabbi won, the Jews could stay in Italy.

Rabbi Moishe was chosen for the debate.

Since Rabbi Moishe spoke no Italian, and since the Pope spoke no Hebrew, it was agreed that the debate would be silent.

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