Interesting/Inspirational Stories, Proverb and Saying

adam_sofea

Originally posted by Adm_Cheng_Ho at 2004-6-22 10:43 PM:

Splendid! :tq:

In this case, America should learn to accomodate with the world & become one with us & not change it. LOL... just kidding. :bgrin:

:setuju:

adam_sofea

Originally posted by lyhmsia at 2004-6-25 12:58 AM:
Letting go

Two monks were returning to the monastery in the evening. It had rained and there were puddles of water on the road sides. At one place a beautiful young woman was standing unable to  ...

i dont get this, monks cant touch women ke? and what does it mean, carrying still? because still thinking abt it?

hey, keep up the gd storyA! really enjoy reading it. i hardly hav any chance to learn bout religion coz i dunno chinese.shame......

i tak paham cite ni... bukan lake memang still ke sebab tak gerak, napalak dia kalah? and i dont understand the moral of the story

AdamSofea,

Tasik itu memang tenang. Tetapi itu reflects sekelilingnya. Bukan hati manusia. Hati manusia tidak dipengaruhi sangat oleh keadaan sekeliling. Inilah message yg hendak disampaikan. Alam sekeliling memang selalunya tenang & aman. Most of the time. Tetapi hati manusia boleh berubah sekelip mata. Inilah kekurangan lukisan pertama.

Dalam lukisan kedua, ia menyampaikan message hati manusia yg tenang walaupun dalam keadaan sekeliling yg bergelora.

Moral of the story ialah "change comes from within". Perubahan datang dari dalam. Bukan dari luar. Contohnya, bila orang mengutuk kamu, tanyalah diri sendiri dulu samaada apa yg dikatakan itu betul. Dan sekiranya tidak, tanya lagi apa puncanya. Adakah kamu sendiri yg menyebabkan keadaan begitu? Dalam konsep Zen, keadaan sekeliling adalah cermin kepada diri sendiri. Ia akan reflect balik. Oleh itu, carilah jawapan dalam hati dan fahaman sendiri. Bukan fokus ajer kepada yg luar untuk dapatkan jawapan. Kekadang, jawapan ada pada diri sendiri.

i dont get this, monks cant touch women ke? and what does it mean, carrying still? because still thinking abt it?

Dalam hukum Buddhism, seseorang sami harus menjauhi maksiat. Dengan itu, janganlah sentuh perempuan kalau dah istiharkan jadi sami mencari kebenaran. Tetapi, larangan ini fleksibel. Dalam keadaan tertentu, sami boleh sentuh perempuan seperti menyelamatkan orang tak kira jantina. Menolong orang juga boleh. Takkan nak buat tak tahu ajer bila nampak kesukaran yg dialami seseorang perempuan seperti yg diceritakan oleh lyhmsia. Tolong lah.

Yg dimaksudkan 'still carrying' ialah, sami yg melihat masih mendukung beban gadis dalam minda dan hatinya. Sami yg menolong gadis tersebut telah lama meletakkan ingatan bersama dengan gadis itu di tepi jalan. Oleh itu, sami yg melihat masih berpegang kepada sesuatu yg sudah berlalu. Inilah yg dimaksudkan 'clings toward attachment' dalam Buddhism. Dia gagal membezakan antara menolong dengan hukum menjauhi maksiat. Orang yg tolong takde niat jahat. Dia sendiri yg ada niat jahat malah tersimpan lagi dalam otak dia. Khar khar khar... sami jahat. Salah sendiri tak nampak nak cari salah orang lain lagi.

In a certain part of India, people have devised an ingenious trap to catch monkeys. They tie one end of a string to the neck of a bottle, another end to a tree trunk. Inside the bottle, they put some fruits. Yummy!

When a monkey sees it, they will squeeze their hand in through the narrow bottle neck to get the fruits. Once it has the fruit firmly in its grasp, the monkey is caught, because its hand is now far too big to pull out. Of course, the monkey could choose to let go of the fruits, but, unfortunately, very few of them do. Thus, they are trapped by their own foolish desire & greed.

Moral of the story:
Humans are often implicated by their own desires. When place too much attachments onto it, it brings sufferings. Alcohol, sex, wealth and anger are the Four Great Walls. In Chinese writing, a 'square' with the word 'man' inside the square yields another word called 'Qiu' meaning prisoner(qiu fan). Because these desires can be manipulated. Thus, a man who has strong desires is not free...

[ Last edited by Adm_Cheng_Ho on 26-6-2004 at 11:19 PM ]

Killing

Gasan instructed his adherents one day: "Those who speak
against killing and who desire to spare the lives of all conscious
beings are right. It is good to protect even animals and insects.
But what about those persons who kill time, what about those
who are destroying wealth, and those who destroy political
economy? We should not overlook them. Furthermore, what of
the one who preaches without enlightenment? He is killing
Buddhism."

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, when two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep it was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead.

The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all of their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. She fell down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as hard as she could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at her to stop the pain and just die. She began jumping even harder and finally made it out. When she got out, the other frogs said, "Did you not hear us?" The frog explained to them that she was deaf -- she thought they were encouraging her to jump out of the hole the entire time.

My Reaction:
Try your best to achieve your goal. Don't ever let others distract or discourage you.

The warty frog and the prize goldfish met one summer afternoon in the temple pool. "Don't you realize how beautiful I am?" bubbled the goldfish flashing her wispy tail. The frog made no reply. "I can understand your silence," gloated the goldfish. "I am not only graceful in my movements but I also enhance the golden rays of the sun." Again, neither answer or movements from the frog. "Say something," demanded the
goldfish just as a waiting crane speared the sparkling fish and flew into the sky. "Bye bye," croaked the frog.

Source: Zen Fables For Today

Originally posted by exiang at 26-6-2004 02:27 PM:
hey, keep up the gd storyA! really enjoy reading it. i hardly hav any chance to learn bout religion coz i dunno chinese.shame......

There are a lot of online sources for you to read in English.
website: http//www.buddhanet.net

According to an ancient Indian fable, a mouse was in constant distress because of its fear of the cat. A magician took pity on it and turned it into a cat. But then it became afraid of the dog. So the magician turned it into a dog. Then it began to fear the panther. So the magician turned it into a panther. Whereupon it was full of fear for the hunter. At this point the magician gave up, and turned it into a mouse again saying, "Nothing I do for you is going to be of any help because you have the heart of a mouse."

My Reaction:
The power of our mind.

[ Last edited by lyhmsia on 27-6-2004 at 02:28 PM ]

Interesting Story/View

There was a river that travels from the mountains, flows through the forests to reach for the ocean. After a long journey, he came to a desert. He felt very sorry for himself, because he knew he could never flow across the desert; the heat would completely destroy him and he could never make it to the ocean.

Then the desert whispered " Go ahead and flow into me, River. Use my heat to evaporate, transform into clouds and fly across me towards the sea." River was skeptical. "This sounds more like destruction" he thought.

Then River recalled before he was born, he was actually snow on a mountain. "Transformation may not be bad afterall" he thought. River took a deep breath and flow into the desert. He then turned into rain and showered into his destiny, the ocean.

My Reaction:
Change is inevitable. Embrace it.

A Rough Road Lead To The Star

Hermit and Rabbits.

Two hermits are seated in a field. One of them is surrounded by rabbits. The one who is not surrounded by rabbits says to the first:

揧ou抮e a saint! I can抰 believe it. All the rabbits gather around you, whereas they flee from me. What抯 your secret?

Happiness is...

taking in all the wonders of life --
its joys, its sorrows, its sunshine, its smiles --
learning from the experiences each one brings you,
and then, from a caring heart, giving them all away again.

Humility

The lion was proud of his mastery of the animal kingdom. One day he decided to make sure all the other animals knew he was the king of the jungle. He was so confident that he by-passed the smaller animals and went straight to the bear. "Who is the king of the jungle?" the lion asked. The bear replied, "Why you are, of course" The lion gave a mighty roar of approval. Next he asked the tiger, "Who is the king of the jungle?" The tiger quickly responded, "Everyone knows that you are, mighty lion " Next on the list was the elephant. The lion faced the elephant and addressed his question, "Who is the king of the jungle?" The elephant immediately grabbed the lion with his trunk, whirled him around in the air five or six times and slammed him into a tree. Then he pounded him onto the ground several times, dunked him under water in a nearby lake, and finally dumped him out on the shore. The lion--beaten, bruised, and battered--struggled to his feet. He looked at the elephant through sad and bloody eyes and said, "Look, just because you don't know the answer is no reason for to get mean about it!"

I guess a person shouldn't be arrogant even if he/she is the best in certain things because there will always be someone better than you.

An Aesop Fable

An astronomer used to walk around outside every night to watch stars. One time, as he was wandering on the outskirts of the city and gazing at the stars, he fell into a well. After hollering and crying for help, someone ran up to the well, and after listening to his story, remarked, "My good man, while you are trying to pry into the mysteries of heaven, you overlook the common objects that are under your feet."

Serving Others

A Sufi teaching story tells of a man who prayed continually for the awareness to succeed in life. Then one night he dreamed of going into the forest to attain understanding. The next morning he went into the woods and wandered for several hours looking for some sign that would provide answers. When he finally stopped to rest, he saw a fox with no legs lying between two rocks in a cool place. Curious as to how a legless fox could survive, he waited until sunset when he observed a lion come and lay meat before the fox. "Ah, I understand," the man thought. "The secret to success in life is to trust that God will take care of all my needs. I don't need to provide for myself. All I have to do is totally surrender to my all-sustaining God." Two weeks later, weakened and starving, the man had another dream. In it he heard a voice say, "Fool. Be like the lion, not like the fox."

From Sufism/Islam

The world is like a mirror, you see? Smile, and your friends smile back.
--Japanese Zen saying

So an ancient once said, "Accept the anxieties and difficulties of this life". Don't expect your practice to be clear of obstacles. Without hindrances the mind that seeks enlightenment may be burnt out. So an ancient once said, "Attain deliverance in disturbances".
--Zen Master Kyong Ho [ 1849-1912]