Zen stories and more Pot-Luck recipes

I went to my fav meditation group tonight led by John who shared a couple great stories with us. ..I love Zen stories:

There were 3 men who went together into the forest to meditate together.. they were planning on a really long silent meditation which would last for several years. A year went by and not one of the men talked, 2 years went by and then one night 1 man said out loud “I hate brown rice”. And then nothing else was said for a long, long time.. another year and a half went by and a second man said “so what?” and then again silence.. after a few more years, 5 years total had gone by and the 3^rd man says “That’s it, I’m leaving. I can’t stand listening to you two bickering”

Zen humour! Lol ok, next story..

This story takes place in a Japanese Medieval School, in a classroom of 14-15 year olds. The classroom is very strict, very orderly and disciplined. Now in this classroom there is a teacher who always falls asleep on his desk for awhile every afternoon (little 20 min power nap) and there is this boy who one day speaks up – although everyone shocked because you don’t usually say anything like this to the teacher and he asks him about his falling asleep on his desk every day. The teacher replies “Ah, but every day when I fall asleep I go up to the clouds, I enter the 7^th heaven and talk to the sages of all time who impart great wisdom to me.”

So.. the next day the boy goes to sleep on his desk. The teacher is very upset by this. He makes a big whack with a stick on his desk beside him to wake him up. The teacher asks what he is doing, sleeping in his classroom. The boy looks up and says “Teacher, when I was asleep I went up to the clouds, to the 7^th heaven and spoke to the great sages of all time who imparted great wisdom to me and then I asked them if they had seen you and they said No!”

& now for some quality Raw content!
One of my favorite salads from the Pot Luck last Saturday -

Chinese Wild Rice with Tender Vegetables

1/2 head purple cabbage - chopped
1 onion - chopped
3 coves garlic - minced
1 T ginger - minced
1 red pepper - cut into thin strips
2 heads of broccoli with stems -cut into thin pieces
2 carrots - cut into thin strips
1 bunch cilantro- stems removed - chopped
1 bunch flat leaf parsley - chopped
1/2 c lemon juice
3/4 c sesame oil
zest of 1 orange
1/4 c nama shoyu
1 1/2 t Celtic sea salt
1/2 t cayenne
1/2 lb wild rice - soaked 48 hours

Mix all together in a bowl.

Another favorite salad - & I couldn't believe it was this simple consisted of mainly mung beans- (at early sprouting stage) with chopped red pepper and sunflower sprouts, olive &/or sesame oil, salt & cayenne.

and a few other recipes from dishes I really enjoyed:

Raw Sunflower Seed Pate - soaked sunflower seeds, fresh dill, crushed garlic, lemon juice, green onion, celery & Celtic salt.

Salad with pear, dandelion leaves, fennel and sun-dried tomatoes (all chopped).

A great, super simple pate made with only 3 ingredients- cashews, kale, and Braggs aminos.

Salad dressing made with olive oil, lemon, garlic, date and sun-dried tomatoes.

Thai Cucumber Salad- cucumbers, lemon juice, cayenne and basil.

Halva - almonds, raw tahini, honey, vanilla and raw cacao.

& also the Almond D-lights from Halowe'en- coconut meat, goji berries, cacao nibs, small piece of dried lemon peel, tahini and maple syrup.