The zen master just had a new student who’s having a hard time in life . The master put two tablespoons of salt into a glass of water, then asked the student to taste. The student had a sip and told him: that’s too salty, even bitter.
Then the master took the student to a lake, he put two tablespoons of salt into the lake and asked the student to taste the water, the student tasted it and told him: the water is so sweet, no difference with other spring water.
The master smiled and said: the salt is such like the pain and struggles in your life, so you want to have a small heart or big heart?
There was a young man who always complained about his bad luck. One day, an old man with the grey beard came over and asked: “Young man, why are you unhappy?”
“I don’t understand why I am always so poor.”
“Poor? You are rich!” the old man said sincerely.
“Why do you think that?” the young man asked.
The old man said: “If you cut off one of your fingers now I will give you $1,000, will you do it?”
“of course no !” the young man replied.
“If you cut off your hand I will give you $10,000, will you do it?”
“No way!”
“If you make you blind and I will give you $100,000, will you do it?”
“No！”
“If you immediately become an 80-year-old man and I will give you 1 million, will you do it?”
“No.”
“If you die immediately and I will give you 10 million, will you do it?”
“No way!”
“That’s right, you already have more than 10 million wealth, why do you still lament that you are poor?” the old man asked with a smile.
The young man was speechless, and suddenly understood something.
if you wake up in the morning and you can breathe freely, you will be more blessed than the person who passed away last night.
If you have never experienced the danger of war, the loneliness of being imprisoned, the pain of being tortured, and the suffering of starvation…you already belong to the lucky ones in this world.
If you can attend a religious gathering without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death….you are happier than lots of others in this world.
If you have food in your refrigerator, enough clothes on your body, and a shelter….you are richer than lots of others.
If you can look up, with a smile on your face, and a heart full of gratitude, you are truly happy-because most people in the world can do this, but they don’t. If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them , or just pat them on the shoulder… you are indeed blessed-because what you have done is equivalent to what God can do.
One day, the cat fell into a big pit, the pig brought the rope to her, The Cat said , thrown it down piggy. Then the pig threw the whole rope to the cat . The cat was so depressed, she thought he would just drop one side of the rope then pull her up . “Really ? Throw it like that how do you expect to pull me up?” Said the cat. The pig said: “ok so what should I have done ?” The cat said: “you should hold one side of the rope!” The pig said : “got you !” At the same time he jumped into the pit and grabbed one side of the rope said to the cat: “like this ?”
Suddenly all the depression from cat was gong , she started crying and laughing, she felt she was the happiest cat in the world because She has a truly good friend, he maybe not clear what’s happening but he’s staying with her in the mess.
Once upon a time, the frog neighborhood had a climbing competition, the destination was the top of the tall iron tower. There were lots of frogs standing under the tower to watch and discuss, none of them believed any of the competitors could get to the top of the tower.
photo by Stephanie LeBlanc on Unsplash
“As a frog, to get the top of the tower is impossible!” “We should stay on the ground, we don’t have wings, claiming that height is the most dangerous thing to our frogs!” “Right! see?more frogs falling down….” “It’s really a bad idea to have a frog climbing competition, no frog is going to win, we just waste our time here……” “We are just frogs , the beautiful sky does not belong to us….”
Some of the competitors heard from the spectators, they felt so discouraged, so when the height got higher and higher, more and more frogs fell.
At the end, only one frog kept going up and up, the spectators still believed there’s no way he could get to the top, but he never showed that he was frustrated for doing that . Yes! finally he got to the top of the tower, he won!
When other frogs went to ask him how he made that happen, they found out he was a deaf !
A woman walked outside and saw three old men were sitting in front of her yard. They long white beards looked spiritual and peaceful.
She didn’t think she had met them before, but she was being very nice and asked them if they would like to come in and have something to eat.
An old man stroked his long white beard and introduced theirselvs to the woman: “his name is SUCCESS, and the other one named WEALTH, my name is LOVE, you can’t invite us all, you only can invite one of us.
photo by Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash
The woman went inside and talked to the family, the husband said, of course, invite WEALTH, the woman said, SUCCESS is better, but the young daughter had different option, she wanted to invite LOVE.
After a short discussion, the woman walked outside and told them they want to invite LOVE. The three old men started smiling and said, good choice, now we can all come inside. The woman was confused: but you said I only can invite one.
The old men said together: “ if you invite the other two, we can’t come in together, but you invite love, we will always follow LOVE .”
When a man was roaming in the forest, suddenly a hungry tiger rushed up to him with a roar. He immediately ran with the fastest speed he ever had in his life, but the tiger was chasing him so hard. He ran and ran all the way, and finally, there was nowhere to run, he was standing on the edge of the cliff, he thought quickly: Instead of being caught by a tiger, bitten, dismembered and die, it’s better to jump into the cliff, maybe there is still a glimmer of life.
He jumped into the cliff and was very lucky to get stuck on a plum tree, and it was full of plums. When he was rejoicing, he heard a huge roar from the depths of the cliff. Looking towards the bottom of the cliff, a fierce lion was looking up at him. It made him tremble, but then he thought: Even I will be killed by the lion, but it is not any worse than killed by that tiger, they are the same beasts.
photo by Fezbot2000 on Unsplash
When he was relieved, he heard another sound, after a closer look, two mice, one black and one white were biting the branches of the plum tree. He panicked for a while, then relieved soon, he thought: It’s better to die by falling from the broken branches than eaten and killed by the lion.
After he calmed down, he was a little hungry and picked some plums to eat. He felt that was the most delicious plums in his life. He found a triangular branch and thought: maybe he’s going to die sooner or later, but nothing he can do with that right there, why not take a good rest, let his luck to handle the parts he can’t help.
He fell asleep deeply on the stable triangular branch. After waking up, he found that the black and the white mouse,the tiger and the lion were gone. So he followed the branches and carefully climbed the cliff, finally he was out of danger.
photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash
when he was asleep, the hungry tiger couldn’t wait anymore, it roared and jumped off the cliff. The black and the white mouse heard that and ran away in a panic. The tiger fought fiercely with the lion under the cliff and they both escaped with injuries.
Sometimes the suffering in life is such like the hungry tiger in the story is chasing us crazy, alternating days and nights are like the white mouse and the black mouse are chewing the branches, finally, time will be gone and everything will be gone, yes, the death is like the lion in the bottom of the cliff is waiting for us, so why not just like the guy in the story knowing the worst thing forward but still enjoy the delicious plums and take a good rest, when he wakes up, what a surprise is waiting for him.
If you don’t like death then every present we are alive worth being cherished. When you give more respect to today then you will receive more surprises tomorrow.
