I'll teach you how to pray!

Buddhists got the truth just as they received it, Muslims too, Hindus as well—there’s no lying about it! It’s all from God, because otherwise, none of this would even exist...
Buddha focuses on the collective consciousness exactly as it is, and our God feels more powerful, though I think it's the same thing! He's our creator; you can't have this much beauty in the world coming from anything less than something divine! When I was a kid, I used to think deep about it—what if nothing ever existed and nothing ever will!?! Back then, a few times, I’d catch a glimpse of that specific fear you have to face... just picturing a few things in my head under those questions, and something deep inside would just shake me! After that, I couldn't handle it...

If you want to try it, do it in total darkness. Imagine being up there in a vacuum, staring at planets and stars, and then suddenly it's pitch black and the light is gone. Try focusing right then, visualizing with your heart and soul. If you don't feel it within 10 to 15 seconds, don't bother pushing it! I was a pretty moody kid, so I used to get lost in thoughts like that.🙂

Don't even think about doing that! Unless you’re actually willing to put your whole heart into it and test if the universe will give you a sign first. I went through the sadness, so why can't you guys just be happy?

Here are some fitting prayers for our buddy Michael Roberts9....😁

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Keep my wallet thick and my bank account full,
Let me always have enough to roll up,
And let the grass stay forever green.
Give us our daily dose right now,
Remember us whenever we need it; just think of us.
Forgive us for our habits and our little vices,
Because we’re busy smashing prejudices and church myths.
And please, don't lead us into any temptation greater than the greenery,
Just free us from the nonsense and all that religious stiffness.
😲😲😲😲😲😲😲

transcendentalist !!!

I won't even need that kind of perfection! But man, what a rush, what a total rush 🙂
There aren't any thoughts there, just pure feeling... total ecstasy, as they say... some guy once asked Zen three or four different times for advice on how to act when a woman walks by, since he didn't want a single thought to latch onto him. He'd keep asking, "What if I feel like this?" because he didn't even want to look her in the eye, and Zen just tailored his answer every single time 🙂 so there isn't much heavy philosophy or talking involved... it's just merging with everything around you, pure empathy...

A student was out on a pilgrimage one day and asked Zen: "I won't be staying by your side forever. My biggest worry is women. It's easy enough to stick to the discipline while I'm here with you, but when I'm on my own? I'm scared—scared of myself. If I run into a woman, what am I supposed to do?" Zen replied: "Just keep your eyes on the ground, about four feet ahead of you. Don't look at her. That’ll be enough to avoid the distraction. Just look down, four feet in front of you, and keep moving. That way, you won't get caught up in faces or beauty; you won't even care if it's a man or a woman." The student shot back: "Okay, but what if I walk right into a situation where I don't realize a woman is coming until it's too late? By then, looking at the ground won't help me." Zen just smiled and said: "Then don't talk to her. Just keep walking and don't look back." But the student kept pushing: "But what if she wants to talk? As a follower, I have to be polite and decent. If a woman asks me something, shouldn't I listen? Shouldn't I answer?" Zen said: "Fine, talk to her, but don't touch her." The student wasn't done: "Just one more thing! What if there's a situation where touching is unavoidable? Like an accident happens... blah blah blah..." Zen laughed and said: "Then just do one thing: stay mindful." The student finally said: "Alright, I can do that." Source: Osho - White Lotus

If you ask me, he overthinks things way too much for a mind like mine that just needs grace and heart. Ever since I stepped away from being a saint and realized I'm running out of time for everything, I told God, "Just show me what I actually need." And let's face it, the devil steals our time for everything the second we stop paying attention! Just look at Osh's eyes—they look enlightened! He was just another prophet playing the part he was meant to play. I mean, how else could he have been? Could any of you have been different? His teaching is great for philosophy nerds, but it hits deep for a true seeker. Personally? I don't get half of it. But it stays in my heart, and when I read him again, it'll all click. He spoke the truth as he saw it. Even if it felt a little skewed to me at times, everything works out in the end. Good things serve the good, and bad things serve the bad.

Osho basically called me out, telling me to get my act together before he breaks every bone in my body! Honestly, I’m not exactly a scholar when it comes to this stuff, and I read way too fast to catch everything. But man, Our Father... that prayer is such a powerful spiritual law. Looking back, my last few prayers felt incredibly selfish. I used to actually pray for others when I was a kid—I was pure back then...

The back of the book says *Lives of the Saints* by Swami Sivananda... So, what defines a saint? According to him, it's someone who lives in God or the Eternal. Someone stripped of ego, people-pleasing, intolerance, selfishness, vanity, possessiveness, greed, and rage. A saint is someone gifted with an equal vision of all beings, a balanced mind, mercy, tolerance, justice, and cosmic love, possessing divine knowledge. Sivananda nailed that description. And he writes pretty incredible things about Jesus, saying He lived in India as a young man and acted as an Eastern yogi. Whether that's true or not, he recognized His teachings just like I recognize the truth in all faiths. Look, I'm no genius, I just love hearing myself talk. I guess I lacked 🙂 so go ahead, vote for me 😉

God grouped me in with all those phonies, because you don't need some fancy degree to find Him—He’s already inside you, just waiting for you to grab hold. So look, dear Osho, you can philosophize all you want, act enlightened, or even pretend to be God, but you aren't hitting the mark for my soul. God is way simpler than that; you shouldn't have to write a thousand books just to get the point across! I only had to read one 🙂 then the other day, while I was half-asleep, a kid showed me how the spirit struggles—reaching out, grabbing at the air with its right hand about seven times, and it finally clicked: I need to step up my game. But man, I can't seem to rise above it; Satan's attacks keep pinning me to the floor. I've been telling myself it won't last much longer, but I'm just kidding myself; it's stronger than me... This world is pretty great 🙂 as long as I'm not allowed to whine or cry. What God loves most is for me to just laugh.

Look at this kid go...

Michael Roberts9 said:Osho basically called me out, telling me to get my act together before he breaks every bone in my body! Honestly, I’m not exactly a scholar when it comes to this stuff, and I read way too fast to catch everything. But man, Our Father... that prayer is such a powerful spiritual law. Looking back, my last few prayers felt incredibly selfish. I used to actually pray for others when I was a kid—I was pure back then...

The back of the book says *Lives of the Saints* by Swami Sivananda... So, what defines a saint? According to him, it's someone who lives in God or the Eternal. Someone stripped of ego, people-pleasing, intolerance, selfishness, vanity, possessiveness, greed, and rage. A saint is someone gifted with an equal vision of all beings, a balanced mind, mercy, tolerance, justice, and cosmic love, possessing divine knowledge. Sivananda nailed that description. And he writes pretty incredible things about Jesus, saying He lived in India as a young man and acted as an Eastern yogi. Whether that's true or not, he recognized His teachings just like I recognize the truth in all faiths. Look, I'm no genius, I just love hearing myself talk. I guess I lacked 🙂 so go ahead, vote for me 😉

I've heard that from other sources too. It's not just that Christ visited there as a youth, but that he actually stayed in eastern India for about eight years, where he was famous as one of the greatest interpreters of Buddhism.

One day we’ll finally get those answers when Jesus shows up in all His glory 🙂
Osho reminded me that I once dug into Tantra—it’s top-tier insight. Honestly, I can't recall a single word from it, but the vibe stuck, and that's where I caught the essence... I even had a realization: you don't need to grind so hard, you just have to channel everything you've got inward. Truth is, Osho is way sharper than me; he just calls it like he sees it while I'm still stumbling around blind... he definitely won this one 😉

But look, you’ve gotta cry out to God. It’s written that you need to return to Him with your whole heart, and coming from Osho, that hits way harder 😉
I’ve done exactly what I described above and it worked for me. I had my reasons to go that route, but does anyone else feel like they need to?

Michael Roberts9 said:One day we’ll finally get those answers when Jesus shows up in all His glory 🙂
Osho reminded me that I once dug into Tantra—it’s top-tier insight. Honestly, I can't recall a single word from it, but the vibe stuck, and that's where I caught the essence... I even had a realization: you don't need to grind so hard, you just have to channel everything you've got inward. Truth is, Osho is way sharper than me; he just calls it like he sees it while I'm still stumbling around blind... he definitely won this one 😉

But look, you’ve gotta cry out to God. It’s written that you need to return to Him with your whole heart, and coming from Osho, that hits way harder 😉
I’ve done exactly what I described above and it worked for me. I had my reasons to go that route, but does anyone else feel like they need to?

Enough with all the endless theorizing. It’s high time we actually put this into practice! I mean, seriously—how does one actually pray correctly? Who are we talking to, and what's the actual protocol? Is there some kind of "casual" way to do it while you're just going about your day? For instance, at my office, I usually have a sung Mass playing in the background during my eight-hour shift. But, well... let's just say my coworkers aren't exactly the most spiritually engaged crowd. So, most of the time, it ends up being a total solo mass for me. Just me and the music.
And besides, there are plenty of prayers out there—here’s one that’s more for the recreational side of things: I’ve been sitting here thinking about this whole mess—really chewing on it—and I can't help but feel like we're just circling the drain of our own making. It’s one of those things where you think you see the pattern, you think you’ve finally grasped the underlying structure of the chaos, only to realize you were looking at a shadow on the wall. And honestly? It’s exhausting. I was reading some old stuff the other day—nothing too heavy, just some reflections on how we perceive reality—and it struck me how much we struggle with the concept of "being." We spend so much energy trying *to be* something specific, trying to force a certain identity or status, that we completely miss the actual experience of existence. It’s like trying to catch water with a net; the harder you squeeze, the more you lose. There’s this idea in some spiritual circles—not that I’m preaching here, mind you—but even when you look at the teachings of someone like Osho, there's this constant push toward presence. But instead, we gravitate toward this frantic, restless energy. We want the ecstasy without the discipline. We want the destination without the walk. It’s a fundamental flaw in how we approach life in America today—this obsession with the "next thing" that prevents us from ever actually arriving. I remember back when I was living in Chicago—just a kid really, full of misplaced confidence—I thought I had my entire philosophy figured out. I spent months convinced that if I just followed a specific set of rules, everything would click into place. Pure arrogance, looking back. I was trying to legislate my way into peace. You can't do that. It’s not a legal contract; it's an internal shift. It reminds me of what Michael Roberts9 was saying earlier—that sense of frustration when the external world refuses to align with our internal expectations. It’s maddening. You do everything "right," you follow the steps, you play by the rules, and yet the universe seems to be laughing at you. But maybe that laughter is the point? Maybe the friction is exactly what we need to wake up? If everything went smoothly, we’d all just drift off into a permanent, mindless stupor. We need the resistance to know we’re even alive. It’s a tough pill to swallow, especially when you're in the middle of the grind, but there's a certain grim necessity to it.

Let’s just be real for a second—Osho is clearly miles ahead of both you and me. It’s written all over this picture: I honestly can't wrap my head around why people still cling to these outdated notions—it’s almost exhausting to watch. I was sitting in a coffee shop in Seattle the other day, just minding my own business, when I overheard this guy trying to lecture someone about "tradition" as if that somehow justifies being completely wrong about how the world actually works. It’s the same pattern, really. We see it all the time in these discussions. People get so caught up in their little bubbles that they lose sight of the bigger picture—the actual reality of things. They argue over minutiae while missing the forest for the trees. And frankly, it’s frustrating. You try to bring up a logical point, a grounded perspective, and suddenly you're the one being unreasonable? Please. It takes a certain kind of stubbornness to ignore what's right in front of your face. We need to move past this constant need for validation through old, tired ideas and start looking at things with a bit more clarity. If we don't, we're just spinning our wheels in the sand. Anyway, that's just my two cents—not that anyone ever seems to want to hear a reasoned argument around here.

Michael Roberts9 said:Osho basically called me out, telling me to get my act together before he breaks every bone in my body! Honestly, I’m not exactly a scholar when it comes to this stuff, and I read way too fast to catch everything. But man, Our Father... that prayer is such a powerful spiritual law. Looking back, my last few prayers felt incredibly selfish. I used to actually pray for others when I was a kid—I was pure back then...

The back of the book says *Lives of the Saints* by Swami Sivananda... So, what defines a saint? According to him, it's someone who lives in God or the Eternal. Someone stripped of ego, people-pleasing, intolerance, selfishness, vanity, possessiveness, greed, and rage. A saint is someone gifted with an equal vision of all beings, a balanced mind, mercy, tolerance, justice, and cosmic love, possessing divine knowledge. Sivananda nailed that description. And he writes pretty incredible things about Jesus, saying He lived in India as a young man and acted as an Eastern yogi. Whether that's true or not, he recognized His teachings just like I recognize the truth in all faiths. Look, I'm no genius, I just love hearing myself talk. I guess I lacked 🙂 so go ahead, vote for me 😉

But Osho actually said it—about those saints—that they’re just incredibly boring people! 😲

Actually, my friend's mother went through all of this right at the end of her life—she had Alzheimer’s, so she was essentially living like a plant. It sounds strange, I know, but she was completely stripped of everything that usually makes people difficult... you know, the egoism, the constant need to please others, that unbearable irritability, selfishness, vanity, possessiveness, greed, and all that bitter resentment. She just wasn't there anymore.😲

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time reading up on the concept of prayer, specifically through the lens of Eastern spiritual traditions... and there is this fascinating idea that a prayer only truly manifests if the person praying can feel within themselves that their request has already been granted.
If I am interpreting this correctly...

Take, for instance, someone praying for the sun to break through on a gloomy, overcast day. According to this philosophy, the person shouldn't just ask for the sun to appear; rather, they should cultivate that internal sensation of what it will actually feel like once the sunlight finally hits them. They need to visualize that brightness and actually feel its warmth radiating within their own soul.
It also seems to be beneficial to seek forgiveness for one's shortcomings and offer heartfelt gratitude to God for everything we already possess before even beginning to ask for more.

Don't try to micromanage your prayers; they should flow as naturally as an important conversation. Just stay present in the moment and embrace whatever emotions surface. You might feel a surge of joy one minute, then hit a wave of sadness or regret the next. You might find yourself calling on Heaven for Help, only to settle into a quiet state of reverence. Think of every prayer as a dime deposited into a savings account. We don't hold those funds in escrow for you; instead, we let each prayer drift out on the wind, yet it remains entirely yours, with the interest and benefits building up every single day.

Collect these prayers and lean on the support they provide. Every single one acts like an angel, guiding your path. Our role isn't to interfere with your prayers, but rather to cheer you on as you offer them. I've found that mornings are the perfect time to start. Ideally, you should attempt to converse with your Creator just before you fully wake up. If you can connect while your head is still on the pillow and your eyes are heavy with sleep, you'll wake up feeling tuned into the voice of your Beloved Creator. It’s a wonderful way to start the day, and starting with that kind of positive energy almost certainly paves the way for a life filled with happiness and miracles.

At its core, prayer is about "reconnecting," and reconnecting with the Divine is your direct link to constant inspiration and strength. Some people have started to view prayer as a chore or a set of rigid rules. While even obligatory prayer carries immense power—offering extra blessings to those who are already living vibrantly—it shouldn't feel like a burden. Think of prayer like pulling into a gas station to top off your tank with fuel and oil. You can pray at any time during the day just by setting the simple intention to reach out to Heaven. Simply hold the thought that you need God’s loving guidance, and consider it done. Rest assured, we are always here to support you, and your prayers will never go unanswered.

From the book: Messages from Your Angels - Doreen Virtue

Benjamin Taylor6 said:Enough with all the endless theorizing. It’s high time we actually put this into practice! I mean, seriously—how does one actually pray correctly? Who are we talking to, and what's the actual protocol? Is there some kind of "casual" way to do it while you're just going about your day? For instance, at my office, I usually have a sung Mass playing in the background during my eight-hour shift. But, well... let's just say my coworkers aren't exactly the most spiritually engaged crowd. So, most of the time, it ends up being a total solo mass for me. Just me and the music.
And besides, there are plenty of prayers out there—here’s one that’s more for the recreational side of things: I’ve been sitting here thinking about this whole mess—really chewing on it—and I can't help but feel like we're just circling the drain of our own making. It’s one of those things where you think you see the pattern, you think you’ve finally grasped the underlying structure of the chaos, only to realize you were looking at a shadow on the wall. And honestly? It’s exhausting. I was reading some old stuff the other day—nothing too heavy, just some reflections on how we perceive reality—and it struck me how much we struggle with the concept of "being." We spend so much energy trying *to be* something specific, trying to force a certain identity or status, that we completely miss the actual experience of existence. It’s like trying to catch water with a net; the harder you squeeze, the more you lose. There’s this idea in some spiritual circles—not that I’m preaching here, mind you—but even when you look at the teachings of someone like Osho, there's this constant push toward presence. But instead, we gravitate toward this frantic, restless energy. We want the ecstasy without the discipline. We want the destination without the walk. It’s a fundamental flaw in how we approach life in America today—this obsession with the "next thing" that prevents us from ever actually arriving. I remember back when I was living in Chicago—just a kid really, full of misplaced confidence—I thought I had my entire philosophy figured out. I spent months convinced that if I just followed a specific set of rules, everything would click into place. Pure arrogance, looking back. I was trying to legislate my way into peace. You can't do that. It’s not a legal contract; it's an internal shift. It reminds me of what Michael Roberts9 was saying earlier—that sense of frustration when the external world refuses to align with our internal expectations. It’s maddening. You do everything "right," you follow the steps, you play by the rules, and yet the universe seems to be laughing at you. But maybe that laughter is the point? Maybe the friction is exactly what we need to wake up? If everything went smoothly, we’d all just drift off into a permanent, mindless stupor. We need the resistance to know we’re even alive. It’s a tough pill to swallow, especially when you're in the middle of the grind, but there's a certain grim necessity to it.

Let’s just be real for a second—Osho is clearly miles ahead of both you and me. It’s written all over this picture: I honestly can't wrap my head around why people still cling to these outdated notions—it’s almost exhausting to watch. I was sitting in a coffee shop in Seattle the other day, just minding my own business, when I overheard this guy trying to lecture someone about "tradition" as if that somehow justifies being completely wrong about how the world actually works. It’s the same pattern, really. We see it all the time in these discussions. People get so caught up in their little bubbles that they lose sight of the bigger picture—the actual reality of things. They argue over minutiae while missing the forest for the trees. And frankly, it’s frustrating. You try to bring up a logical point, a grounded perspective, and suddenly you're the one being unreasonable? Please. It takes a certain kind of stubbornness to ignore what's right in front of your face. We need to move past this constant need for validation through old, tired ideas and start looking at things with a bit more clarity. If we don't, we're just spinning our wheels in the sand. Anyway, that's just my two cents—not that anyone ever seems to want to hear a reasoned argument around here.

But Osho actually said it—about those saints—that they’re just incredibly boring people! 😲

Actually, my friend's mother went through all of this right at the end of her life—she had Alzheimer’s, so she was essentially living like a plant. It sounds strange, I know, but she was completely stripped of everything that usually makes people difficult... you know, the egoism, the constant need to please others, that unbearable irritability, selfishness, vanity, possessiveness, greed, and all that bitter resentment. She just wasn't there anymore.😲

Man, that’s just boring! Like, what was he even trying to get at? Is he actually contradicting everything he’s teaching us? People call things boring just because they don't live up to their own damn expectations. Even Jesus spent three years preaching—talk about a drag!

Nicholas Gonzalez73, you're absolutely right. 🙂

So, there’s this old story about a wealthy ruler who offered a spiritual teacher a spot living at his palace. Once the guy actually accepted, he couldn't stop being shocked by how worldly everything turned out to be. I'll dig up the full story and post it here so you guys can see what I mean. The point is, God doesn't want us to be broke in the real world; He wants us to be rich spiritually, and that's when the blessings actually start flowing. It's like that old Greek saying—I know nothing. When you finally put yourself in a position where you admit you don't have all the answers, that's when the spiritual doors actually swing open. On the flip side, we all know those people who think they’re experts on everything? They aren't learning a damn thing.

You could say the same thing about King Solomon. He lived in absolute luxury and had wives straight out of a storybook, but God only took issue with one thing: toward the end of his life, he started bowing down to his wives' gods.

Michael Roberts9 said:You could say the same thing about King Solomon. He lived in absolute luxury and had wives straight out of a storybook, but God only took issue with one thing: toward the end of his life, he started bowing down to his wives' gods.

Stories always get twisted by the end. Osho was talking about those dull saints who just sit around smiling all day. Christ was actually active—an adventurer who embodied divinity and Knowledge. He wasn't some passive, boring guy; he traveled everywhere, moving between the East and the West, and was famous during his lifetime even among Buddhists.

Basically, Osho is saying they’re boring if you’re watching them 🙂 because you're expecting some big, spectacular show, but instead it's just silence and peace... You think they're about to drop some massive truth bomb or something, but then they just end up rambling some nonsense 😉

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace!
Where there’s hatred, let me plant love;
Where there’s injury, let there be forgiveness;
Where there’s discord, let there be harmony;
Where there’s doubt, let there be faith;
Where there’s despair, let there be hope;
Where there’s darkness, let there be light, and
Where there’s sadness, let there be joy.
Divine Teacher, let me not seek
so much to be comforted as to comfort;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
because it is in giving that we receive;
and it is in forgiving that we are forgiven;
and it is in dying that we are born into eternal life.

from Lives of the Saints, Swami Sivananda

This prayer hits hard. You need to set aside at least half an hour just to really lose yourself in it.🙂

Michael Roberts9 said:Basically, Osho is saying they’re boring if you’re watching them 🙂 because you're expecting some big, spectacular show, but instead it's just silence and peace... You think they're about to drop some massive truth bomb or something, but then they just end up rambling some nonsense 😉

So, picture this: this great prophet is out there, just pounding the pavement—running and running without any sign of stopping. And he’s got this whole entourage of disciples trailing right behind him, keeping pace, totally locked in. Then, all of a sudden, he just stops dead in his tracks. Naturally, everyone behind him hits the brakes too. They’re all standing there, eyes wide, leaning in, probably expecting some profound, life-altering revelation or some deep spiritual epiphany. And what does he do? He just turns around and tells them, "Look, I'm sick to death of all this running. I'm going home." And then you have these followers—and honestly, they act like such cowards—just standing there panicking, wondering what the hell they're supposed to do now that their guru isn't leading the charge anymore. It's pathetic, really. 😢😲😁

I was sitting around earlier—just one of those slow afternoons where you find yourself spiraling down a Wikipedia rabbit hole—and I ended up reading through the entire history of *Forrest Gump*. Honestly, it’s one of those films that people either absolutely adore or they just can't stand, and frankly, I think both sides have a point. It’s such a massive piece of American cinema, isn't it? The movie itself is basically a whirlwind of 20th-century American history seen through the eyes of this incredibly simple, yet somehow profoundly impactful, man. You’ve got everything in there—the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, even those weird moments with Elvis Presley—all tied together by this guy who just happens to be in the right place at the right time. It’s almost frustrating how much luck plays into his life, which makes me wonder if we’re all just drifting aimlessly while he accidentally stumbles into greatness. It’s funny, because back when it came out in '94, it felt like this grand, sweeping epic that captured the soul of the country. But looking back now, through a modern lens, some of the themes feel a bit... well, let's call them "uncomplicated." It’s a sentimental journey, for sure. I remember watching it in a theater in Chicago back in the mid-nineties—the air was thick with popcorn and nostalgia—and seeing everyone react to Forrest’s journey. There was this palpable sense of shared experience, even if the movie does lean heavily into that "destiny" trope that some critics love to rail against. Is it a masterpiece? Is it overly saccharine? It’s probably a bit of both. But you can't deny its place in the American cultural landscape. It’s one of those movies that stays with you, even if you spend half the runtime rolling your eyes at the sheer coincidence of it all. Just a thought..)

Yeah, I was checking out 🙂 🙂 scrolling through the White Lotus by Osh and stumbled onto some serious wisdom...

"They say Moses' face glowed when he caught a glimpse of God up in the mountains. His face became so radiant that he actually had to cover it, putting a veil over his face. He came back to his people wearing that veil. They were confused and asked him, 'Why are you covering your face?' And Moses replied: 'Because it became so bright, so full of light, and I don't want to look holier than everyone else.' That’s what true holiness is. 'I don't want to prove I'm superior to others, but my face is so filled with light that if I walked among you without a veil, everyone would think I was chosen, that God descended into me, or that my heart was touched and transformed by God.' It's a beautiful story, incredibly significant—that's how the holy always lived: behind a veil. They live like ordinary human beings; that's the point of the story. It doesn't mean they literally hide their faces—you don't need to do that. It's not about hiding, because that just draws even more attention to you."

"You'd expect Buddha to let women into his circle more easily than Mahavira did. But Mahavira allowed them in without any hesitation—not once did he say no. On the day the first woman asked him, he initiated her immediately, just like he did with the men. Yet Buddha kept turning women away for another ten years. His own disciples kept pushing him to change. They’d cry and wail, 'This isn't right!' and he’d just respond, 'I'll think about it.'"

"You can only grasp what you can meet on the level you currently exist. There was this Zen teacher who got caught stealing small things a few times. He was a highly respected teacher, so his students asked him: 'Why are you doing these ridiculous things? What's the point of all this? We're ready to give you whatever you want—you don't have to steal!' But the teacher would just smile and say nothing. He'd get hauled off to jail for a few days, and as soon as he got out, he'd do it again. Near the end of his life, his students finally asked, 'Please, tell us your secret!' And the teacher answered: 'The secret is simple. I wanted to help prisoners in the cell, and they could only understand me if I was a prisoner just like them. There was no other way to help them. I had to drop down to their level so I could help them rise up to mine.'"