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 !
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.
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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.
A nomad walked into the temple, he saw Bodhisattva was sitting on the lotus platform for worship, he was very envious.
He asked: “Can I change to your position”?
Bodhisattva answered: “Only if you can keep silent, no matter what you see or hear”.
Then the nomad sat on the lotus platform. Things were not as lovely as he thought. There were messy and noisy all day long, so many prayers and wishes. He struggled to keep the promise to Bodhisattva.
One day, a rich man came in, he said: “Bodhisattva，please give me virtue”.He knelt and got up, his wallet dropped on the floor, but he didn’t know. The nomad who was being “Bodhisattva” just wanted to tell the rich man about that, then he reminded himself of real Bodhisattva’s words. So he kept his mouth shut.
Then, a poor man came in. He said: “Bodhisattva, please let me get some money, my family is dying, We need some cash to see a doctor”.He knelt and got up, he suddenly found the wallet on the floor, he was so happy, he thought it was the manifestation from Bodhisattva. He took the wallet and walked away.
The nomad wanted to tell the poor man it is nothing about Bodhisattva’s manifestation, it is just because a rich man dropped by accident.
In the meantime, a fisherman came in. He asked Bodhisattva to give pleasant weather to keep him safe during fishing. Still, the same as others，knelt and got up. When he was just about to leave, the rich man came back in a hurry and stopped him, the rich man thought the fisherman must be the one who picked up his wallet. Of course, the fisherman had no idea about it, Seeing they spent the time discussing the problem, the nomad could not bear the mess anymore, he said: “stop”! , then he told them the truth about the wallet.
They found the poor man at the gate of the temple, he hadn’t left yet. So, money was back to the rich man, things cleared, and the fisherman was free to go back to fish.
This mess seemed to be handled well by the nomad, but Bodhisattva said: “just go back to your life, you thought it was impartial that you opened your mouth to tell them the truth, but nobody got the things they wished. If you have kept silent as you promised, the rich man could have got his virtue by his money helping others, the poor man would have saved family’s life and if things were not cleared soon by your mouth, the fisherman could have stuck in the temple more to avoid the bad weather, then he wouldn’t have died.
The nomad was silent then walked out of the temple . . .
quote’s background picture is from Unsplash
Everything happens for a reason, they are under the best arrangements. Things happen when it meant to happen.Sometimes, all answers can be found in silence.
Humans learn to speak in two years, but take the rest of life to learn when to keep silent.
