We were talking - about the space between us all And the people - who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion Never glimpse of truth - then it's far too late - when they pass away We were talking - about the love we could all share - when we find it To try our best to hold it there - with our love With our love - We could save the world - if they only knew Try to realise it's all within yourself no-one else can make you change And to see you're really only very small, and life flows on wit-hin and wit-hout you We were talking - about the love that's gone so cold and the people, Who gain the world and lose their soul - then you may find, pea-ce of mind, is waiting there And the time will come when you see we're all one, and life flows on within and without you

can you spot the lie?

In his teachings, Ben stressed that Zen was his path because it allowed him to be himself. All the other routes that allegedly lead to cosmic consciousness seemed to put him in conflict with his own nature. He advised all seekers to examine carefully what each system asked of the potential initiate, keeping in mind three rules:

1. What you are required to believe is what the system cannot prove. 2. Anything that you are asked to keep secret is of more value to the teacher than to the student. 3. Any practice that is forbidden offers something that the system cannot successfully replace with an alternative.

One listener asked, "Don't you believe that giving up the pleasures of the senses will produce a different consciousness?" "My personal experience," Ben replied,"was that it produced the consciousness of fanaticism." – From Zen without Zen Masters

That Cuban girl That brought me low She had that skin so fine and red lips rose-like now Her mouth was wide And sweet as well And now relentless hours of dreaming up her smell And I feel as if I am looking at the world from the bottom of a well Lonely And the only way to beat it is to bat it down Oh all the days That I have run I sought to lose that cloud that’s blacking out the sun My train will come Some one day soon And when it comes I’ll ride it bound from night to noon Aimless days, uncool ways of decathecting Painless phase, blacked out thoughts you be rejecting LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS NOW – Mike Doughty

(ps - also check out a live performance.)