a quote from Chuang Tzu
We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.
a Zen Buddhist story A farmer got so old that he couldn’t work the fields anymore. So he would spend the day just sitting on the porch. His son, still working the farm, would look up from time to time and see his father sitting there. “He’s of no use any more,” the son thought…
a Zen story During a time of civil war in Korea, a certain general led his troops through province after province, overrunning whatever stood in his path. The people in one town, knowing that he was coming and having heard tales of his cruelty, all fled into the mountains. The general arrived in the empty…
a Zen story about following our true nature Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process he was stung. He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion fell…
Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.
– Brene Brown
a Sufi story “Mulla, Mulla, my son has written from the Abode of Learning to say that he has completely finished his studies!” “Console yourself, madam, with the thought that God will no doubt send him more.
a contemporary Christian story A pious man who tried to live by God’s will dwelled in a valley out in the country. One day a great rain came to his valley and the floodwaters rose. The man went from the first floor to the second floor as the rains continued. Finally he climbed out onto…