THE OWNER

THE OWNER

Near Tokyo lived a great Samurai, now old, had decided to teach Zen Buddhism to young people.

One afternoon, a warrior – known for his complete lack of scruples – arrived there. The young and impatient warrior had never lost a fight. Hearing of the Samurai’s reputation, he had come to defeat him, and increase his fame. All the students were against the idea, but the old man accepted the challenge.

Everyone gathered on the town square, and the young man started insulting the old master. He threw a few rocks in his direction, spat in his face, shouted every insult under the sun – he even insulted his ancestors. For hours, he did everything to provoke him, but the old man remained impassive. At the end of the afternoon, feeling exhausted and humiliated, the impetuous warrior left.

Disappointed by the fact that the master had received so many insults and provocations; the students asked: “How could you bear such indignity? Why didn’t you use your sword, even knowing you might lose the fight, instead of displaying your cowardice in front of us all?”

“If someone comes to you with a gift, and you do not accept it, who does the gift belong to?” – asked the old Samurai.

“He who tried to deliver it.” – replied one of his disciples.

“The same goes for envy, anger and insults.” – said the master. “When they are not accepted, they continue to belong to the owner who carried them.”

~ It’s absolutely upon us as to what and who we become, sometimes ignorance helps to remain true to human values and be more empowered. ~

THE BURNT TOAST

THE BURNT TOAST

When  I was a kid, my mom liked to cook food and every now & then I remember she used to cook for us. One night in particular when she had made dinner after a long hard day at work, mom placed a plate of bread jam and extremely burned toast in front of my dad. I was waiting to see if anyone noticed the burnt toast.

But dad just ate his toast and asked me how was my day at school. I don’t remember what I told him that night, but I do remember I heard mom apologizing to dad for burning the toast. And I’ll never forget what he said: “I love burned toast.”

Later that night, I asked dad if he really liked his toast burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, “Your mamma put in a long hard day at work today and she was really tired. And besides, a burnt toast never hurts anyone but harsh words do!”

~ It is important to realize that words have power. We can make a fresh toast but we cannot repair a burnt heart~

COMMON SENSE

COMMON SENSE

A 24 year old boy seeing out from the train’s window shouted…“Dad, look the trees are going behind!”

Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the 24 year old’s childish behavior with pity.

Suddenly he exclaimed… “Dad, look the clouds are running with us!”

The couple couldn’t resist and said to the old man…“Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor? He lacks basic common sense ”

The old man smiled and said…“I did and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he just got his eyes today.”

 ~ Being judgemental is so easy that anyone can but one should make the facts clear first, opinions and reality are different most of the times ~

THE DARK CANDLE

THE DARK CANDLE

 

A man had a little daughter--an only and much beloved child.  He lived only for her, she was his life. So when she became ill and her illness resisted the efforts of the best obtainable physicians, he became like a man possessed, moving heaven and earth to bring about her restoration to health.

His best efforts proved fruitless, however, and the child died. The father was totally irreconcilable.  He became a bitter recluse, shutting himself away from his many friends, refusing every activity that might restore his poise and bring him back to his normal self. He was filled with vengeance and would not treat anybody kindly. He lost hope on humanity and refused to be normal. 

    

Then one night he had a dream.  He was in heaven and witnessing a grand pageant of all the little child angels. They were marching in an apparently endless line past the Great White Throne.  Every white-robed, angelic tot carried a candle.  He noticed, however, that one child's candle was not lit.  Then he saw that the child with the dark candle was his own little girl.  Rushing towards her, while the pageant faltered, he seized her in his arms, caressed her tenderly, and asked, "How is that your candle is the only one not lit?"  "Father, they often relight it, but your tears always put it out again," she said.

Just then he awoke from his dream. The lesson was crystal clear, and it's effects were immediate. From that hour on he was no longer a recluse, but mingled freely and cheerfully with his former friends and associates. No longer would his little darling's candle be extinguished by his tears but rather he would light it by caring for other children thus bringing a smile on her angelic face in heaven.

 
~ When we live for someone and love so unconditionally it becomes infinitely eternal, it has to breathe beyond any confines and it does not matter where we are but how we are! ~

MIND YOUR TONGUE

MIND YOUR TONGUE

As a King and his Queen were sitting in their palace one day, a fisherman who was selling fresh fish was brought in front of them. The King decided to buy a fish and gave the fisherman 4000 dirham for it.

The fisherman was overjoyed. He thanked the King and left.

The Queen turned to her husband in anger and scolded him for paying so much for a fish. The King said that the fish was purchased and that there was nothing that could be done about it.

However, the Queen was adamant and insisted that the fisherman be brought back.

"We will ask the fisherman about the gender of the fish," she said. "If he answers that it is female, we will say that we wanted a male fish and if his response is that it is male, we will say that we wanted a female fish! Either way, we will be able to return the fish and have our money back."

So the poor fisherman was called back and was asked the question. The fisherman sensing some danger, replied, "The fish is neither male or female. It is neutral."

The King was impressed by the ingenuity of the man and before the Queen could say anything further, he ordered another 4000 dirham to be paid to him. The fisherman thanked the King again but as he was about to leave with the heavy bag of money, one of the coins fell onto the floor. The fisherman immediately bent down to look for the coin. The Queen was already upset that the fisherman had been given 8000 dirham.

"Look how miserly this man is!" the Queen exclaimed. "One coin has fallen out of his bag full of money and he searches for it instead of leaving it for some other poor servant to find."

The man heard this remark and said, "O Queen, it is not out of miserliness that I search for the coin but rather because it had the picture of the generous King on it. I would not tolerate anyone to cause dishonour to the King by treading on the coin."

The King was so happy with this response that he immediately called for another 4000 dirham to be given to the fisherman. When the Queen saw all this, she thought it was better to hold her tongue and let the man go with the 12000 dirham before the King decided to increase the amount again.

~ Speech is an Art. If one knows what, when and how to talk then such a person will be successful in life. Your tongue is the translator of your intellect. In other words, a person's intellect and wisdom is recognized through his or her speech. ~ 

THE LIZARD STORY

THE LIZARD STORY

 

In order to renovate the house, Kiko broke open the wall. Japanese houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls. When tearing down the walls, he found that there was a lizard stuck there because a nail from outside hammered into one of its feet. He sees this, feels pity, and at the same time curious. Curious because when he checked the nail, he realized that the nail was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built !

What happened? Why did the lizard survive in such position for 10 years? In a dark wall partition for 10 years without moving, it is impossible and mind-boggling.

So Kiko stopped his work and observed the lizard, what it has been doing, and what and how it has been eating.

Later, not knowing from where it came, appears another lizard, with food in its mouth.

Ah! He was stunned and touched deeply. For the lizard that was stuck by nail, another lizard had been feeding it for the past 10 years...

Imagine? It has been doing that untiringly for 10 long years, without giving up hope on its partner.

~ Tough times and situations are to ensure us as to who care for us, unconditionally. ~

THE ROTTEN POTATOES

A kindergarten teacher decided to teach an important lesson to the class. The teacher told each child in the class to bring along a plastic bag containing few potatoes. Each potato would be given a name of a person that the child hates.

So when the day came, every child brought some potatoes with the name of the people he/she hated. Some had 2 potatoes; some 3 while some up to 5 potatoes.

The teacher then told the children to carry with them the potatoes in the plastic bag wherever they go for 3 days.

After two days the children started to complain due to the unpleasant smell let out by the rotten potatoes. Besides, those having 5 potatoes also had to carry heavier bags.

The teacher asked: "How did you feel while carrying the potatoes with you ?" The children let out their frustrations and started complaining of the trouble that they had to go through having to carry the heavy and smelly potatoes wherever they go..  

The teacher said: "This is exactly what happens when you carry your hatred for somebody inside your heart. The stench of hatred will contaminate your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot tolerate the smell of rotten potatoes for just few days, can you imagine what it means to have the stench of hatred in your heart for your lifetime?"

~ The greatest of all is humanity and forgiveness gives life to it, although sounds easy but most difficult to practice ~

SEARCHING IN SILENCE

There once was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him. After searching high and low among the hay for a long while; he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of children playing outside the barn.

He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded.

Hearing this, the children hurried inside the barn, went through and around the entire stack of hay but still could not find the watch. Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for his watch, a little boy went up to him and asked to be given another chance.

The farmer looked at him and thought, "Why not? After all, this kid looks sincere enough."

So the farmer sent the little boy back in the barn. After a while the little boy came out with the watch in his hand! The farmer was both happy and surprised and so he asked the boy how he succeeded where the rest had failed.

The boy replied, "I did nothing but sit on the ground and listen. In the silence, I heard the ticking of the watch and just looked for it in that direction."

~ The ability to be an extra-ordinary is as uncommon as one finds himself on the path, one’s belief, determination, and attitude play the major role~

THE STAG STORY

A Stag, which lived in a jungle, decided to go for an outing with his family to another forest. The stag and his family enjoyed the new jungle, which had thick bushes and trees. There- was plenty to eat for all of them.

All of a sudden, the antlers of the stag got caught in the overhanging branches of a tree. The stag struggled hard, but could not free himself. His wife and baby kept on watching helplessly

The stag thought, “Everything was fine till now. Now, I am stuck. We won’t be able to reach our home until I have my antlers free. How unlucky I am! We came here for having a good time, but I think this is the worst period of my life.”

The stag struggled for some more time but it was exhausted. He finally gave up and kept standing there helplessly. The three of them had to spend the whole night like this. The stag kept cursing his fate.

The next morning, a woodcutter who came along saw the stag with his antlers entangled with the branches. He quickly understood the situation, and took pity on the stag. Soon, the woodcutter cut down the branches of the tree and set the stag free.

The stag thanked the woodcutter and rushed back home with his family on reaching home he was shocked to. Learn that a pack of lions had attacked their area, the previous day. Many lives were lost. Some of the dose friends of the stag were also killed.

Within the flash of a second, the stag realized that he and his family were saved because his antlers had got caught in the branches. The moments which he considered to be the life turned out to be the worst period of his life turned out to be the most fortunate for him. He thanked God for having saved his life.

~ What we consider as “The worst period of our life” might turn out to be “The best period of our life”. Welcome the adversities of life with a smile! ~