To behave in accordance with feelings

[Gustaw] Herling tells the story of Eugenia Fyodorovna, a nurse in the Vologda gulag who, as the head doctor’s mistress, enjoyed numerous privileges. It happened, however, that she fell in love with one of the prisoners. To behave in accordance with her feelings and not with her material interests was, in these circumstances, an act of dignity. It cost her dearly: as punishment, her lover was moved to another camp, and when she asked to be transferred herself, so as not to have to be near the head doctor, she forfeited all her privileges. “In January of 1942, Eugenia Fyodorovna died giving birth to her lover’s child, thus paying with her life for her short resurrection”.

(Tzvetan Todorov)

Poverty is not misery

«La povertà non è miseria; quando un letterato non può mettere in pratica la sua dottrina, questa è miseria. Con il vestito rappezzato e le scarpe bucate egli è povero, ma non miserabile. Ciò significa soltanto che i tempi non gli sono stati propizi».

«Poverty is not misery; misery is when a writer can not put into practice his doctrine. With patches in his dress and holes in his shoes he is poor, but not miserable. This only means that the times were not propitious for him».

(Chuang-Tzu).

Perspectives

A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on the plane sees the farmhouse and dreams of home.

(Carl Burns)

Blind amusement

A dragon stranded in shallow water furnishes amusement for the shrimps. A tiger out in the plain is an easy prey for the hyenas.

(Chinese Proverb)

Are you looking for a name (名) for truth?

A monk asked Daiju:

Q. Are words the Mind?

A. No, words are external conditions; they are not the Mind.

Q. Apart from external conditions, where is the Mind to be sought?

A. There is no Mind independent of words. [That is to say, the Mind is in the words, but is not to be identified with them.]

Q. If there is no Mind independent of words, what is the Mind?

A. The Mind is formless and imageless. The truth is, it is neither independent of nor dependent upon words. It is eternally serene and free in its activity. Says the Patriarch, ‘When you realize that the Mind is no Mind, you understand the Mind and its workings.’

Daiju further writes: “That which produces all things is called Dharma-nature, or Dharmakaya. By the so-called Dharma is meant the Mind of all beings. When the Mind is stirred up, all things are stirred up. When the Mind is not stirred up, there is no stirring and there is no name...”

(quoted by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki)

La dittatura del mondo nuovo

«Se qualcuno mi domandasse se sia meglio una società repressiva dove un genio venga isolato e considerato un imbecille pericoloso o una società libera dove qualsiasi imbecille pericoloso possa diventare un genio, non avrei dubbi e sceglierei sicuramente la seconda, ma con un po’ di preoccupazione perché se abbiamo già sperimentato quanto faccia male una dittatura militare, non sappiamo ancora quanto possa far male la dittatura della stupidità»

(Giorgio Gaber)