A beautiful diamond that a princess dropped one day lay lost in a meadow. Just above it shone a drop of dew, hanging from a shoot of grass. The sun made them both shine, and the modest dewdrop admired the noble stone.
A large beetle who was passing by recognized in the diamond someone of high origin. "Sir, I give you homage," the beetle said."Thank you," the diamond responded haughtily.
Turning its head, the beetle saw the drop of dew. "One of your relatives I presume?" the beetle said, nodding toward the diamond.
The diamond burst out laughing. "How can you place me on the same level as this vulgar being? Its beauty is only imitation. It shines but it doesn't last."
The beetle was flabbergasted, and the drop of dew felt completely humiliated. Then a bird flew down and pecked at the diamond.
"Ah no," the bird said, disappointed, "I thought you were a drop of water, but you are only a diamond. My beak is dry, I feel like I'm going to die of thirst."
"Oh well, what's one bird more or less," the diamond laughed again.
But at the same time the dewdrop resolved to help the bird. "Can I be of use to you?" it said. The bird raised its head. "Oh precious friend, you have saved my life!"
"Come then," said the dewdrop. And the bird drank it up and flew away, revived.
"Here is a lesson I won't soon forget," thought the beetle, continuing on its way.
"Simple merit is worth more than rank or wealth that has no modesty or devotion. There can be no real beauty in that."
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Zen - Become a lake
The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. "How does it taste?" the Master asked. "Terrible," replied the boy.
The Master then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and when the guy swirled his handful of salt into the lake, the old man said, "Now drink the water from the lake."
As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the Master asked, "How does it taste?" "Good!" remarked the boy. "Do you taste the salt?" asked the Master. "No," said the young man.
The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and said," The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount we taste the 'pain' depends on the container we put it into.
So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things.....
What is required is to change our paradigm and make a shift in our focus. Too often we are more focused only on the gain, and miss out on the gain.
Stop being a glass. Become a lake! Failure doesn't mean when we fail, but when we don't want to come up again.
Let us sit down and make a List of all our Pains. Also, let us analyze the containers we have been using and how today we can make a shift and gain from it.
"The greatest aim of Education is not Knowledge but ACTION"
The Master then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and when the guy swirled his handful of salt into the lake, the old man said, "Now drink the water from the lake."
As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the Master asked, "How does it taste?" "Good!" remarked the boy. "Do you taste the salt?" asked the Master. "No," said the young man.
The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and said," The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount we taste the 'pain' depends on the container we put it into.
So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things.....
What is required is to change our paradigm and make a shift in our focus. Too often we are more focused only on the gain, and miss out on the gain.
Stop being a glass. Become a lake! Failure doesn't mean when we fail, but when we don't want to come up again.
Let us sit down and make a List of all our Pains. Also, let us analyze the containers we have been using and how today we can make a shift and gain from it.
"The greatest aim of Education is not Knowledge but ACTION"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)