[MD] The Intellectual Level of Quality, according to Mark

[MarshaV]

Sorry, here it is again without the long lines.   -m 



Hi Dan,

Of all the stories I've ever read, and of all the words on philosophy (ZMM & LILA excluded 
of course) I've tried to decipher, and of all the books explaining Buddhism I've ever tried to 
interpret, your story of the misspelled sign is my all-time favorite.  It still comes to mind and 
makes me laugh.  Laugh at myself of course.  Probably not often enough.  It is a gem!!!   
Puts everything into perspective.  I'm laughing now at just the thought of it...       

For those of you who missed it:

------(cut - paste)-------  


From: Dan Glover <daneglover at hotmail.com>
To: <moq_discuss at moqtalk.org>
Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 02:01:51 -0500
Subject: Re: [MD] (no subject)



Driving down the road one day, in a hurry as usual, I caught sight of a sign just as I passed it. 
Curious, I made a u-turn and went back. The sign said: Buddist Temple and just below that 
was a little hand-painted note that said: All Are Welcome. So I drove into the compound. 
I parked the car in the parking lot and walked into the temple.

Your sign is misspelled, I told the young man at the counter. He laughed a loud belly laugh. 
I thought maybe he hadn't understood me. I explained that there should be an "h" in Buddhist. 
He laughed again, this time falling to the floor and rolling around as he grabbed his sides with 
his hands as if his ribs hurt from laughing so hard.

About this time an older man appeared from behind some curtains, apparently drawn by the 
laughter. Thinking that the older man was in charge, I approached him. He wore a long 
orange robe and he looked quite regal from a distance but as he got closer I could see 
many tattered rips in his robe that had been carefully repaired and I could see his nose 
hair needed trimming. The man looked very old.

Hey mister, I said, I thought you should know that your sign out on the road is misspelled. 
It should read B-U-D-D-H-I-S-T, not Buddist. He looked at me a long time without saying a 
word. I thought perhaps he didn't speak English. I looked over my shoulder for the younger 
man who could perhaps translate for me but he had disappeared.

When I looked back towards the old man, he had turned around and was walking back 
through the curtain from where he'd first appeared. He waved a hand over his shoulder 
as if motioning me to follow. So I did. We walked down a long hallway, made a turn to the 
left, and then a turn to the right, and emerged outside close to where I parked. The old man 
motioned me to get in my car, so I did. Then he waved goodbye. So I drove off.

On my way out of the compound, I stopped, pulled down the Buddist Temple sign, and threw 
it in the weeds that grew by the road.