Some enlightening Zen Stories

Thank you, Richard.

I agree with the message that it is best to have both eyes on the path. We will then arrive at the goal that is awaiting us. This is clearly against mainstream thinking, of course. When my Son had his first job interviews, he came home puzzled. "Every one wants to know what my goal is. Doing my work well -  what else?" The interviewers did not like this answer.

Juliana
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Speak Peace in a World of Conflict

Hooray! Richard, at last a Zen story I understand.
 
Jude

Love is the only way

One day Chuang Tzu and a friend were walking by a river. "Look at the fish swimming about," said Chuang Tzu, "They are really enjoying themselves."
"You are not a fish," replied the friend, "So you can't truly know that they are enjoying themselves."
"You are not me," said Chuang Tzu. "So how do you know that I do not know that the fish are enjoying themselves?"

 


People's reactions to this story:
 
 

"We are all prisoners of our own knowledge - our disengagement begins when we dare to say 'I don't know.'"

Thank you, Richard!
 
How do we ever know what another feels, thinks and knows? We make assumptions hopefully based on evidence, but we don't really KNOW!
It would be good not to forget about this, when we are tempted to rush to judgment. We can't BE that other person, we can only try to put ourselves into their shoes.
 
Edda

Peace and joy!

So many times we project our own values onto another.

"We must be the change we want to see in this world."

Please light a Candle in the "zendo"

Richard,
This is a top story, which must have been written with me in mind  ! I´d like to know which is the best English adjective to describe my joy at reading it. I do not remember whether I have already posted one of my key-quotes: "He/she who has understood that the world looks very different to different people, has created the best conditions for good human relations".

Juliana
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Speak Peace in a World of Conflict

Juliana;
 
How could I pick an adjective for how you feel??   lol  : )
 
 
p.s. try 'elated', or is that an adverb

Juliana, Richard has a point!
 
Other options include delighted, overjoyed, or you might feel like in 7th heaven....
 
Perhaps if you tell us the German word you would use I might come up with an equivalent. Your trying to find the word is already telling!
 
Edda

Peace and joy!

Richard,
"elated" will do fine - according to what my dictionary says. (It´s a good ADJECTIVE ). I thought you would read my words as praise for picking this story !

Edda,
"delighted" is also appropriate, thank you. From your last sentence I can see that you understand!

When looking for the right adjective, I was reminded of what M.B.Rosenberg says with regard to a vocabulary expressing feelings. It is generally much smaller than the vocabulary of swear-words that most people have . (I can confirm this statement, since I learned some interesting English words and phrases when many years ago I was working in British kitchens to earn money for going to college .)

Juliana
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Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused

Edda and Juliana;
 
Thank you, I myself was on cloud nine; having moved both of you with the story.
 
Blesssed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed, rj  : )

Richard,

I´d like to change this to "Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they may be pleasantly surprised"!

Reading the reactions to the Zen story, which I always do after posting my own, I find they are the best proof of the fact that we all experience reality differently, or build up our own... Isn´t it amazing how many different views there are?

Juliana
_____________________________
Speak Peace in a World of Conflict

The son of a master thief asked his father to teach him the secrets of the trade. The old thief agreed and that night took his son to burglarize a large house. While the family was asleep, he silently led his young apprentice into a room that contained a clothes closet. The father told his son to go into the closet to pick out some clothes. When he did, his father quickly shut the door and locked him in. Then he went back outside, knocked loudly on the front door, thereby waking the family, and quickly slipped away before anyone saw him. Hours later, his son returned home, bedraggled and exhausted. "Father," he cried angrily, "Why did you lock me in that closet? If I hadn't been made desperate by my fear of getting caught, I never would have escaped. It took all my ingenuity to get out!" The old thief smiled. "Son, you have had your first lesson in the art of burglary."




 
People's reactions to this story:

"We must be the change we want to see in this world."

Please light a Candle in the "zendo"

Richard, I suppose life = experience teaches us ingenuity, when we find ourselves in a tight spot and wonder how we will get out of it. We may feel trapped and not realize that the answer is at hand until we look inside ourselves and take a chance.
 
A squirrel who found its way into our basement (we don't know how!) taught me this by example. It stayed there several days despite the squirrel trap which we had baited with nuts. Finally, it must have become hungry enough to take the plunge. How would the squirrel have known that being trapped meant freedom?
 
Edda

Peace and joy!

 
Edda,  What a wonderful analogy; It reminds me of a Bob Proctor quote  He uses the image of a prison for the psychological obstacles we place before ourselves; "It isn't possible to break out of prison until you realize you are in prison"
 
This evening I have no thought of psychological prisons since I just returned from a cruise on the St. Clair river and experienced a beautiful sunset for which I am grateful.

I have been missing Richard´s Zen stories for several months now. When I asked him in a PM to post some more, he sent me a link to 101 of them. I gave in to the impulse of clicking on # 9, and this is what I have just found:

The Moon Cannot Be Stolen


Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal.
Ryokan returned and caught him. "You may have come a long way to visit me," he told the prowler, "and you should not return emptyhanded. Please take my clothes as a gift."
The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.
Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow, " he mused, "I wish I could give him this beautiful moon."


Juliana

Thank you Juliana, for reviving this thread
and for this so peaceful story.
My day will be better for it
with love . . .
sparrow

everything counts... ♥