Guest guest Posted June 22, 2000 Report Share Posted June 22, 2000 Dear everyone, I want to share with you this delightful story :-) Peace, KKT =================== STORY: Destiny During a momentous battle, a Japanese general decided to attack even though his army was greatly outnumbered. He was confident they would win, but his men were filled with doubt. On the way to the battle, they stopped at a Buddhist temple. After praying with the men, the general took out a coin and said, "I shall now toss this coin. If it is heads, we shall win. If tails, we shall lose. Destiny will now reveal itself." He threw the coin into the air and all watched intently as it landed. It was heads. The soldiers were so overjoyed and filled with confidence that they vigorously attacked the enemy and were victorious. After the battle, a lieutenant remarked to the general, "No one can change destiny." "Quite right," the general replied as he showed the lieutenant the coin, which had heads on both sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 22, 2000 Report Share Posted June 22, 2000 Dear Greg, The problem of "Free Will or Destiny" always annoys me enormously :-)) In the story of the Japanese general, could someone give some comments? Is there really Free Will or Destiny in that case? Peace, KKT ======================= << goode (Gregory Goode) Great story KKT! Here's another coin story, from something we used to do in grad school. It's an actual decision principle we used to use to help us in those moments of indecision... "Should I go to the beach for my vacation, or to the mountains? I feel 50-50, can't decide. OK, I'll flip a coin." So I took a regular coin and agreed to abide by the toss, "Heads, it's the beach. Tails, it's the mountains." I flipped the coin. "Hmm, it landed tails - so it's the mountains. Well, err, too bad. AHA!! So that's what I really wanted - the beach! OK, so I'll go to the beach. Thanks to the toss for making that clear!" --Greg At 08:41 PM 6/22/00 EDT, phamdluan wrote: >Dear everyone, > >I want to share with you this delightful story :-) > >Peace, > >KKT > >=================== > > STORY: Destiny > > During a momentous battle, a Japanese general decided to attack even > though his army was greatly outnumbered. He was confident they would > win, but his men were filled with doubt. On the way to the battle, they > stopped at a Buddhist temple. After praying with the men, the general > took out a coin and said, "I shall now toss this coin. If it is heads, we > shall win. If tails, we shall lose. Destiny will now reveal itself." > > He threw the coin into the air and all watched intently as it landed. It was > heads. The soldiers were so overjoyed and filled with confidence that they > vigorously attacked the enemy and were victorious. After the battle, a > lieutenant remarked to the general, "No one can change destiny." > > "Quite right," the general replied as he showed the lieutenant the coin, > which had heads on both sides. > >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 22, 2000 Report Share Posted June 22, 2000 Great story KKT! Here's another coin story, from something we used to do in grad school. It's an actual decision principle we used to use to help us in those moments of indecision... "Should I go to the beach for my vacation, or to the mountains? I feel 50-50, can't decide. OK, I'll flip a coin." So I took a regular coin and agreed to abide by the toss, "Heads, it's the beach. Tails, it's the mountains." I flipped the coin. "Hmm, it landed tails - so it's the mountains. Well, err, too bad. AHA!! So that's what I really wanted - the beach! OK, so I'll go to the beach. Thanks to the toss for making that clear!" --Greg At 08:41 PM 6/22/00 EDT, phamdluan wrote: >Dear everyone, > >I want to share with you this delightful story :-) > >Peace, > >KKT > >=================== > > STORY: Destiny > > During a momentous battle, a Japanese general decided to attack even > though his army was greatly outnumbered. He was confident they would > win, but his men were filled with doubt. On the way to the battle, they > stopped at a Buddhist temple. After praying with the men, the general > took out a coin and said, "I shall now toss this coin. If it is heads, we > shall win. If tails, we shall lose. Destiny will now reveal itself." > > He threw the coin into the air and all watched intently as it landed. It was > heads. The soldiers were so overjoyed and filled with confidence that they > vigorously attacked the enemy and were victorious. After the battle, a > lieutenant remarked to the general, "No one can change destiny." > > "Quite right," the general replied as he showed the lieutenant the coin, > which had heads on both sides. > > >------ >**BELIEFNET SHOPPING** Save $20 at the Beliefnet store! Thousands of >religious and spiritual gifts and products. Now- get $20 off purchases >of $50 or more through July 10. >http://click./1/5591/9/_/520931/_/961720909/ >------ > >// > >All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights, perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and subside back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not different than the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of the nature of Awareness. Awareness does not come and go but is always Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart to be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee relishes in the Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into It Self. Welcome all to a. > >To from this list, go to the ONElist web site, at > www., and select the User Center link from the menu bar > on the left. This menu will also let you change your subscription > between digest and normal mode. > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 23, 2000 Report Share Posted June 23, 2000 Both are true. IMHO, nothing more, nothing less. We are free to make it happen and it will happen as we choose, but the we is not the individual we, it is the collective sum of all of it, as it is happening. I believe (and this is just a belief, not direct knowing) that we collectively used free will to agree to the predestination of this karmic pageant, and that we must accept that this free will lead to the predestinated outcome that we chose with that free will. Love, Mark Like Buddha said, there is a point to all this, but there is no point in looking for it. After all, we have enough on our hands as it is. Love, Glo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 23, 2000 Report Share Posted June 23, 2000 Dear KKT: IMHO free will and/or desinty are not exclusive of one another. The general certainly excerised free will when he chose to use a double headed coin. As for his men, given the fact that they were in the military, it is easy to propose that they had no free will at all since there would have been discipline rendered had any chose not to fight but they did "choose" to not face that discipline by going into battle and following the rules of the military. It appears to me that certain karmas are going to be played out throughout one's life simply because these karmas are the 'engine' that caused the body that houses the soul to come into manifestation. Our 'free will' is always present through our reaction to the events; with the ultimate 'destiny' of each of us being to connect at some point to 'self'. When one gets to the point where they reside in 'oneness' or are 'enlightened' the 'karmic stuff' is stil played out but the mind sees it all as a 'play' and does not react through the ego any longer. Destiny becomes life and life happens :-). Years ago I heard someone speak of the difference between destiny and fate....his belief was that fate feels good and destiny hurts. At the time I compared that in my own life to the difference between smoking pot and meditating. For years to transcend this life I smoked lots of pot.... and that felt good. As I switched to meditation it didn't always feel so good as looking for truth can be both painful and lonely. One or the other had to happen so I used my free will to shift how I was going to choose to approach a life that appeared to be senseless and fraught with misery....pot being 'fate' did not get me closer the the destiny of self. Anyway, this is how my mind perceives the subject at this time. Namaste, Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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