Interesting/Inspirational Stories, Proverb and Saying

Not Dead Yet

The Emperor asked Master Gudo,

"What happens to a man of enlightenment after death?"

"How should I know?" replied Gudo.

"Because you are a master," answered the Emperor.

"Yes sir," said Gudo, "but not a dead one."

The Gift of Insults

There once lived a great warrior. Though quite old, he still was able to defeat any challenger. His reputation extended far and wide throughout the land and many students gathered to study under him.

One day an infamous young warrior arrived at the village. He was determined to be the first man to defeat the great master. Along with his strength, he had an uncanny ability to spot and exploit any weakness in an opponent. He would wait for his opponent to make the first move, thus revealing a weakness, and then would strike with merciless force and lightning speed. No one had ever lasted with him in a match beyond the first move. Much against the advice of his concerned students, the old master gladly accepted the young warrior's challenge.

As the two squared off for battle, the young warrior began to hurl insults at the old master. He threw dirt and spit in his face. For hours he verbally assaulted him with every curse and insult known to mankind. But the old warrior merely stood there motionless and calm. Finally, the young warrior exhausted himself. Knowing he was defeated, he justify feeling shamed.

Somewhat disappointed that he did not fight the insolent youth, the students gathered around the old master and questioned him. "How could you endure such an indignity? How did you drive him away?"

"If someone comes to give you a gift and you do not receive it," the master replied, "to whom does the gift belong?"

A famous teacher took his pupils into a clearing in the forest that was known as a home for wild monkeys.
There he took a hollow gourd with a small hole and inserted sweetened rice (a favorite of monkeys). Then
he chained the gourd to a stake and waited with his class. Soon a very large monkey approached, sniffed
the rice, inserted his paw, and screeched in frustration when he was unable to withdraw his paw (now a
fist) through the narrow opening.

Just then a leopard approached and hearing the monkey screeching decided to have monkey for his dinner.
"Let go of the rice. Run!" screamed the pupils, but to no avail because the monkey in his hunger for the rice,
refused to let go and was as a consequence caught and eaten by the leopard.

"What was the trap that killed the monkey?" asked the master. "Rice," said one student. "The ground," said
another. "No," replied the wise teacher. "The trap was greed."

Compassion with an umbrella
A Western Buddhist woman was In india, studying with her teacher. She was riding with another woman friend in a rickshaw-like carriage, when they were attacked by a man on the street. In the end, the attacker only succeeded in frightening the women, but the Buddhist woman was quite upset by the event and told her teacher so. She asked him what she should have done - what would have been the appropriate, Buddhist response.
The teacher said very simply, "You should have very mindfully and with great compassion whacked the attacker over the head with your umbrella."

(Contributed by Susan)

(Just for laugh)

Two Drunk monks
I took my son, Ian to a farewell party for some friends returning to their country.  Ian, age 9, wisely observed that some of the participants drank too much (I was not among those). On our 1 1/2 hour journey home, I spoke to him about the importance of moderation.
After thinking for sometime, Ian said, "Dad, I have a story that I just made up."

"There were these two Buddhist monks who had about 13 beers each. One had to walk home quite some distance.

'Will you be all right to walk home?', the one asked

'Of course, I will take the Middle Path,' he replied."



(Contributed by Thomas Roberts)

[ Last edited by lyhmsia on 19-8-2004 at 08:38 PM ]

dwbh163

This is about Confucius.

Two educated men were having a very heated argument. Each man was seriously defending his views, and at times shouted at the opponent but there was no physical contact. The verbal quarrel went on for almost an hour.

Confucius and his disciple were passing by and they stopped to see what the commotion was about. The disciple was getting worried and asked Confucius, "Master, they are going to fight. Shall we help them?"

Confucius replied,"They will not fight. The person who strikes first is the one who lost the argument".

Of course, I will take the Middle Path

I had a good belly laugh!!!

Confucius replied,"They will not fight. The person who strikes first is the one who lost the argument"

That's a profound wisdom there. That's how a great teacher teaches his students and later generations. That's the Exemplary Teacher of All Time. This scenario contains Zen in it.

Wise blind elephants
Six wise, blind elephants were discussing what humans were like. Failing to agree, they decided to determine what humans were like by direct experience.

The first wise, blind elephant felt the human, and declared, "Humans are flat."

The other wise, blind elephants, after similarly feeling the human, agreed.

A lion was taken into captivity and thrown into a concentration camp where, to his amazement, he found other lions who had been there for years, some of them all their lives, for they had been born there. He soon became acquainted with the social activities of the camp lions. They banded themselves into groups. One group consisted of the socializers; another was into show business; another was cultural, for its purpose was to carefully preserve the customs, the tradition, and the history of the times when lions were free; other groups were religious -- they gathered mostly to sing moving songs about a future jungle where there would be no fences; some groups attracted those who were literary and artistic by nature; others still were revolutionary, and they met to plot against their captors or against other revolutionary groups. Every now and then a revolution would break out, one particular group would be wiped out by another, or the guards would all be killed and replaced by another set of guards.

As he looked around, the newcomer observed one lion who always seemed deep in thought, a loner who belonged to no group and mostly kept away from everyone. There was something strange about him that commanded everyone's admiration and everyone's hostility, for his presence aroused fear and self-doubt. He said to the newcomer, "Join no group. These poor fools are busy with everything except what is essential."

"And what do you think is most essential?" asked the newcomer.

"Studying the nature of the fence."

Originally posted by dwbh163 at 20-8-2004 02:45 PM:
This is about Confucius.

Two educated men were having a very heated argument. Each man was seriously defending his views, and at times shouted at the opponent but there was no physical contact. The verbal quarrel went on for almost an hour.

Confucius and his disciple were passing by and they stopped to see what the commotion was about. The disciple was getting worried and asked Confucius, "Master, they are going to fight. Shall we help them?"

Confucius replied,"They will not fight. The person who strikes first is the one who lost the argument".

DARSITA

Originally posted by lyhmsia at 26-7-04 06:41 AM:
A Taoist Tale by Chuang Tzu

There once was a man who wanted his fighting rooster to be more ferocious. He took the rooster to a trainer. In a few weeks' time he returned and saw that his rooste ...

Heheh bestnya macam saya jer ni

From Dhammapada:

The world does not know that we must all come to an end here;--but
those who know it, their quarrels cease at once.

The fool who knows his foolishness, is wise at least so far.  But
a fool who thinks himself wise, he is called a fool indeed.

CAN A FOOL EVER ACT GOOD

Once, the people of Varanasi were holidaying on a religious day. The king抯 gardener, too, desired to participate in the religious festivities. As he had obliged the monkeys by giving them shelter in the royal park he approached the monkey king with a request to water the plants in his absence. The monkey king acceded to his request and assured him that he and his mates would do so. When the gardener departed he summoned all the monkeys and instructed them to water the plants. As he owed gratitude to the gardener he warned his followers not to waste water, which the gardener had so diligently harnessed. Further, in order to save the water he advised them to water the plants according to the size of their roots. The monkeys then started pulling out each of the plants to measure the size of the roots to pour water according to their sizes. They poured plenty of water on the plants having large roots; and little water on the plants having small roots. Thus, in minutes they pulled out all the plants to irrigate them according to the size of their roots.

When a passing wise man saw the monkeys acting in a bizarre way he demanded an explanation from them for their foolish actions. The monkeys then said to him that they were acting strictly on advice of their benefactor

Story of the Tigress

Once, the Bodhisatta was born in a respectable family of the scholars; and mastered several Shastras. Soon he was disillusioned with the worldly life and renounced the same for the spiritual uplift. In course of time, he proved his excellence in his pursuit and became the guru of several ascetics.   
One day, when wandering in a forest along with his disciple Ajita, he saw from the top of a hill that a tigress was lurking to kill and eat her own cubs out of hunger. Moved by compassion he thought of sacrificing his own body to feed the tigress and save the cubs. So, he sent away his disciple in search of some food for the tigress lest he might prevent him from his sacrifice. No sooner than Ajita left the site, the Bodhisatta jumped from the precipice in front of the tigress and offered his body. The noise of the fall caught the attention of the hungry tigress, who in no time scooped over him and tore him off in pieces and feasted upon them with her cubs.  

When Ajita returned and did not find his guru in the same place, he looked around and was surprised to see that the tigress was no longer looked hungry. Her cubs were also frolicking. But soon, he was shocked to detect the blood stained rags of his guru抯 dress scattered there. So, he knew that his guru had offered his body to feed a hungry tigress and protected her young ones as an act of great charity. Now, he also knew why was he sent away by his guru.

DARSITA2

lov this one:- "will hatred ever leave anyone who forever thinks: 'He abused me; he hit me; he lied to me; he robbed me'? There is an enduring law: hatred never ceases through hatred; hatred only ceases through love."

DARSITA2

Originally posted by lyhmsia at 22-6-2004 10:47 AM:
Frog legs

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog leg ...

DARSITA2

Dekat mana nak beli buku cerita macam ni?

Thanks
DAR2

Learning To Be Silent

The pupils of the Tendai school used to study meditation before Zen entered Japan. Four of them who were intimate friends promised one another to observe seven days of silence. On the first day all were silent. Their meditation had begun auspiciously, but when night came and the oil lamps were growing dim one of the pupils could not help exclaiming to a servant: "Fix those lamps." The second pupil was surprised to hear the first one talk. "We are not supposed to say a word," he remarked. "You two are stupid. Why did you talk?" asked the third. "I am the only one who has not talked," concluded the fourth pupil.

Wisdom is divided into two parts: (a) having a great deal to say, and (b) not saying it

A Wishing Tree
There is a parable about a poor man walking through the woods reflecting upon his many troubles. He stopped to rest against a tree, a magical tree that would instantly grant the wishes of anyone who came in contact with it. He realized he was thirsty and wished for a drink. Instantly a cup of cool water was in his hand. Shocked, he looked at the water, he decided it was safe and drank it. He then realized he was hungry and wished he had something to eat. A meal appeared before him. "My wishes are being granted," he thought in disbelief. "Well, then I wish for a beautiful home of my own," he said out loud. The home appeared in the meadow before him. A huge smile crossed his face as he wished for servants to take care of the house. When they appeared he realized he had somehow been blessed with an incredible power and he wished for a beautiful, loving, intelligent woman to share his good fortune. "Wait a minute, this is ridiculous," said the man to the woman. "I'm not this lucky. This can't happen to me." As he spoke...everything disappeared. He shook his head and said, "I knew it," then walked away thinking about his many troubles.

My reaction:
We're never content with our own life.