Buy an lotteryticket!

Hi.

Even though i'm no authority of any kind, a humble ordained Zen Priest in training, and just an modest fool at best, today i want to talk about lotterytickets and falling.

So please read along.

A man walks in to a church and up to a statue of an saint, and begins to pray.

-Dear saint, please, please, let me win a million on the lottery!

He comes in and does the same thing the next day

-Dear saint, please, please, let me win a million on the lottery!

He continues to do this the next day and the next and the next for a whole year.

Suddenly, after an year, the statue comes alive, turns to the man and says:

-Please, please buy an lotteryticket!

Don't go around just wishing for things to happen, do something about it.

It is not until you actually do anything about it that something happens.

It is sometimes a mistake to climb;
it is always a mistake never even to make the attempt.
If you do not climb, you will not fall.
This is true.
But is it that bad to fail, that hard to fall?
Sometimes you wake, and sometimes, yes, you die.
But there is a third alternative.

And sometimes, when you fall, you learn to fly.

Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Fables and Reflections

I would like to end with an quote from another master i really like, Master yoda:

“Do or do not... there is no try.”

Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy

Fugen

I used the first story above when i talked to an member of Treeleaf sangha, and thought i'd post it here, and if you know where it originates from, please tell me, since i have forgotten as i first heard it a long while back...