Changing Spaces
I decided to edit this post, because I didn't like its negativity. But I'll leave the end because that part was kind of cool.
There's a Buddhist koan that one might meditate on and figure out its meaning:
- A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.
Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!
To me, this means to Find happiness where you are, no matter where that place might be.
posted by DB @ 3:12:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I just watched Gladiator tonight, and this story reminds me of a line in the movie...
Death smiles at all of us
All we can do is smile back
The mice were happy to chew the vine (death smiles)
The man was happy to enjoy the strawberry in the face of death (thus he smiled back)
This was actually illustrated in a King of the Hill episode. It's first told by the character Kahn:At first I didn't much like Buckley, I admit. But then I saw how much he piss off my neighbor, Mr. Hank Hill, and I decide I should seek out this Buckley fellow and get to know him. I grew to love that boy. Now that he's gone, I feel a big hole in my life -- I think we all do. Is a world without Buckley a world we want to live in? ... As a Buddhist, of course, I get comfort from a story. I don't need to tell you how much Buddhists love a story! ... Anyway, story begins with man being chased by ferocious man-eating tiger. Tiger chase him to edge of cliff. Man falls off. Halfway down, he grab onto branch. He look up, he see ferocious tiger. Now he look down, he see another hungry tiger, waiting for him on the ground below. Not a good place to be. He knows for sure he gonna die. Then out of corner of his eye he see a wild strawberry growing on same branch. He pluck it and eat it. And it was the sweetest-tasting strawberry he ever had. The story is then retold by Hank Hill to his son Bobby.
Hank Hill:Yeah, well, anyway, the Lions were blitzing and Roger rolled out of the pocket, running for his life. He headed for the sidelines, but these two Lions were closing in on him. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a strawberry...cup of Gatorade. Well, Roger took a sip of that Gatorade, but I tell you something, son, it was the sweetest sip of Gatorade Roger ever had.
I can't believe I just quoted King of the HIll. LOL
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