{"id":1555,"date":"2007-09-22T18:03:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-22T18:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edunik.com\/home\/?p=1555"},"modified":"2013-05-11T22:34:39","modified_gmt":"2013-05-11T15:34:39","slug":"the-song-of-the-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/edunik.com\/home\/?p=1555","title":{"rendered":"[book] The Song of the Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rating : \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605
\nCategory : Health, Mind, Body
\nAuthor : Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Song of Bird<\/p><\/div>\n

The Song of the Bird<\/strong> is one of my personal favourite. Written by Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J.<\/a> (1931\u20141987), a Jesuit and well known spiritual director and retreat director. Father de Mello was born in Santa Cruz, a suburb of Mumbai in India. He used many stories, fables and proverbs, collected from different religious traditions to teach spiritual truths.<\/p>\n

Here are two stories from The Song of the Bird<\/p>\n

\n

The Song of the Bird<\/strong>
\n\u201cWhy does the bird sing?\u201d said the Master.
\nA bird does not sing because he has a statement. He sings because he has a song.<\/p>\n

The words of the scholar are to be understood. The words of the master are not to be understood.
\nThey are to be listened to as one listens to the wind in the trees and the sound of the river and the song of the bird.
\nThey will awaken something within the heart that is beyond knowledge.<\/p>\n

\n

I Chop Wood!<\/strong>
\nWhen the Zen master attained enlightenment he wrote the following lines to celebrate it:
\n“Oh wondrous marvel: I chop wood! I draw water from the well!”<\/p>\n

After enlightenment nothing really changes. The tree is still a tree; people are just what they were before and so are you.
\nYou may continue to be as moody or even-tempered, as wise or foolish.
\nThe one difference is that you see things with a different eye.
\nYou are more detached from it all now.
\nAnd your heart is full of wonder.<\/p>\n

That is the essence of contemplationt: the sense of wonder.
\nContemplation is different from ecstasy in that ecstasy leads to withdrawal. The enlightened contemplative continues to chop wood and draw water from the well. Contemplation is different from the perception of beauty in that the perception of beauty (a painting or a sunset) pruduces aesthetic delight, whereas contemplation produces wonder – no matter what it observes, a sunset or a stone.<\/p>\n

This is the prerogative of children. They are so often in a state of wonder. So they easily slip into the Kingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rating : \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605 Category : Health, Mind, Body Author : Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J. The Song of the Bird is one of my personal favourite. Written by Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J. (1931\u20141987), a Jesuit and well known spiritual director and retreat director. Father de Mello was born in Santa Cruz, a suburb of read more »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[138],"yoast_head":"\n[book] The Song of the Bird<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/edunik.com\/home\/?p=1555\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"[book] The Song of the Bird\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rating : \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605 Category : Health, Mind, Body Author : Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J. The Song of the Bird is one of my personal favourite. Written by Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J. (1931\u20141987), a Jesuit and well known spiritual director and retreat director. 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