Quotations from Taoism

 If you know when enough is enough, you know enough.

 Can you lead, and not rule? Leadership without rule is a mysterious form of power.

 When life is easy, prepare for hard times. Solve problems that are small, before they grow large. Remember that even the greatest problems in the world were originally tiny problems.

 If you are subtle in your perceptions, you know that those who are gentle and weak prevail over those who are harsh and strong.

 The less the ruler uses his power, the longer he keeps it.

 Wise people accomplish much, but claim no credit; they teach much, but assert nothing; they are worth much, but desire no praise.

 To know, and yet to think that you do not know, is best. Not to know, and yet to think that you do know, is a sickness. The only cure for such sickness is to be sick of being sick. Wise people are not sick. They are sick of being sick, so they are well.

 Greedy people devote themselves to exploiting others for their own advantage – and thereby do great damage. Scholars devote themselves to making other people respect them – and thereby do great damage. Rulers devote themselves to making others obey them – and thereby do great damage.

 Do people ever attain greater happiness as a consequence of traveling from their native land? No, they become confused and miserable.

 That which is invisible, inaudible and intangible is one. One cannot differentiate one invisible, inaudible, intangible thing from another; there is perfect unity in invisibility, in audibility and intangibility.



CHUANG TZU
(Compiled by: Modnath Dhakal)

To: My loving wife

A man checked into a hotel. There was a computer in his room. So he decided to send an E-MAIL to his wife.

However he accidentally typed the wrong e-mail address and without realising his error, he sent the message. Meanwhile,

Somewhere a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. The widow decided to check her mail,

Expecting message from her relatives and friends.; After reading the first message she fainted.

The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:


To: My loving wife
Subject: I've just reached
Date: 13th Oct 2006

I know you are surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now, and you are allowed to sent e-mails to your loved ones.

I've just reached and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you.

Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was;

- (Copied from else where) Collected by: Mod Dhakal

Sex videos, male chauvinism and our morality

A couple of weeks ago, a nude video clip featuring the emerging actress of Nepali Film Industry emerged in the market. It got so much attention and talk as anything like should have.

Apparently, there are two reasons of this attention and talk: one, any video clips that is nude and features sex becomes a hot talk, second, the clip was featuring the famous actress of Nepal, Namrata Shrestha. She was talk of the town when she showed her talent in ‘Sano Sansar’ (small world). When her sexy video clip was out in the market, the news spread like the fire in the forest. The gorgeous and talent lady was involved in active sexual activities with yet unknown DJ Tantrik alias Kichman Chitrakar. Within a week, the video was circulated via mobile phones, CDs and DVDs. Some people even proudly announced that they had the sexy video of Namrata. The damn Bluetooth helped to transfer the video to as many phones as possible.

My friends asked me whether I had that video. When they heard my negative answer, they questioned my capabilities of being a journalist. I tried to convince them that collecting the nude video clips and ‘X’ rated movies was not the duty of a journalist. I think they were hardly convinced. After a couple of days, one of my friends happily telephoned me that he got the video. There was the news that some of the video/movie parlors even sold the CDs of the video.

The media did not make so much hue and cry this time. However, there was an ample talk about it. Most of the tabloids and eveningers tried to sensationalize the issue as much as they could. Other dailies and weeklies simply reported the news. Some of them also talked about the morality of Namrata, her future reputation and her professional career. But the society, the common people, blamed Namrata instantly. They were advocating the morality and decency.

But, nobody questioned the morality of DJ Tantrik as if he was the least responsible one for the ‘dirty’ game. It needs two hands to clap. The DJ also has an equal share in that activity. Our society didn’t consider the male’s morality going down with the ‘immoral act’.

On the other hand, why on the earth one should be filming their own sexual act? What kind of satisfaction does it give to them? Do they make it on purpose or without? The girl knows that it’s her who is more vulnerable in such cases. History has proved it. Then why do they let their fiancés or any Tom-Dick-Harry shoot them when they are playing?

It’s not wrong to have sex. It’s the biological need for all animals. But every game has a set of rules and one must respect it. Both parties, specially the girls for they are always in loss in such cases, should take care of their private lives. When it’s made public, there is no way to turn back time.

Another important issue is related to our morality. When we know there is such thing available in the market, we all, almost all, run after it and did not rest until we get it and see it. But have we ever thought that how moral is it to watch others being involved in sexual act? Why do we want to peep on other’s sex life? If we don’t run after such nude video clips, nobody would try to distribute them in the market.

Nonetheless, the chief culprits of the nude video scandal are DJ Tantrik and Namrata. They should have taken care of their sexual life. The rest of us were just acting in a natural way.

Modnath Dhakal
Kathmandu