The Dark Night of the Soul: By Peter Holleran Prelude "The sugar cane yields its sweet juice only after it has been crushed relentlessly in a mill. The human entity yields its noblest traits and truest wisdom only after it has been crushed repeatedly in the mill of anguish. " - Paul Brunton (1) “No one has been united to his Beloved through mirth. Whoever has attained communion with him has done so after shedding many tears. If it were possible to meet the beloved while laughing and in a state of comfort, why should one suffer the anguish of separation?
The people of the world are happy. "We are people of little faith and fail to recognize and appreciate the hand which guides and which sustains. "I realize that no contemplative path wants to advertise the cross or the suffering entailed in the crossing over. Part One St. The authentic dark night is thus nothing less than a compassionate and beneficent gift of God.
"If Allah touch thee with affliction, none can remove it but He. " - Qur'an 6:17 According to St. Welcome to the Montreal Zen Center. National Geographic Documentary Myths Logic Of Shaolin Kung Fu full documentary. Shaolin Temple History Timeline. At several points in the long recorded history of China, Buddhism has fallen out of favor with the ruling classes, and temples have been shut down or even burned to the ground. One temple that has survived relatively well is the Shaolin Monastery in Henan Province - in part because the warrior monks of Shaolin have used their kung fu (gong fu) skills to fight for different emperors through the ages. Origins and Early History of the Shaolin Monastery, 200 - 622 A.D. First Buddhist temples built on Songshan, Batuo (Bodhidharma) arrives from India, Huike cuts off his arm to show sincerity, Emperor Xiaowen gives Batuo funds for Shaolin construction, Northern Dynasty capital at Luoyang falls, First Sui emperor awards Shaolin Temple land, Shaolin monks ward off bandit attacks, Warlord Wang Shichong captures Shaolin estate lands, Shaolin monks join Li Shimin's fight against Wang Shichong and capture his fortress, Shaolin Monastery is shut down and monks forced into lay life.