The Pretty Lady

The Pretty Lady
>
>Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were travelling
together.
>They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged.
They had
>to wade across the river. There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the
>damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. The big monk offered to
carry
>the pretty lady across the river on his back. The lady accepted. The
little
>monk was shocked by the move of the big monk."How can big disciple
brother
>carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?"
>thought the little monk. But he kept quiet. The big monk carried the
lady
>across the river and the small monk followed unhappily. When they
crossed
>the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with
her.
>All along the way for several miles, the little monk was making up all
>kinds of accusations about the big monk in his head. This got him
madder
>and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big monk had no
inclination to
>explain his situation. Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the
>little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at
the big
>monk. "How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the
first
>opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All
your
>teachings to me make you a big hypocrite." The big monk looked
surprised
>and said, "I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours
ago,
>how come you are still carrying her along?"
>
>[This very old Chinese zen story reflects the thinking of many people
>today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate
us
>and they make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt,
sometimes
>they cause us to be bitter or jealous. But like the little monk, we
are not
>willing to let them go away. We keep on carrying the baggage of the
"pretty
>lady" with us. We let them keep on coming back to hurt us, make us
angry,
>make us bitter and cause us a lot of agony. Why? Simply because we are
not
>willing to put down or let go of the baggage of the "pretty lady". We
>should let go of the pretty lady immediately after crossing the river,
>immediately after the unpleasant event is over. This will immediately
>remove all our agonies. There is no need to be further hurt by the
>unpleasant event after it is over. It is just that simple.]

>The Frogs
>
>A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he
could use
>a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the
man
>where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, "There is a
pond
>near my house that is full of frogs --- millions of them. They all
croak
>all night long and they are about to make me crazy!" So the restaurant
>owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer would deliver
frogs
>to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the next several weeks.
The
>first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather
sheepish,
>with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said,
"Well...where are
>all the frogs?" The farmer said, "I was mistaken. There were only
these two
>frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!"
>
>[Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you,
remember,
>it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that
problems
>always seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in your bed at
night
>worrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a million
frogs
>croaking? Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and you
take
>a closer look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.]

>The Turtles

>A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. Turtles, being naturally
slow
>about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing. Finally
the
>turtle family left home looking for a suitable place for their outing.
>During the second year of their journey they found a place ideal for
them
>at last! For about six months they cleaned up the area, unpacked the
picnic
>basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they discovered they had
>forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they
all
>agreed. After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to
>retrieve the salt from home. Although he was the fastest of the slow
moving
>turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He
>agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he
returned. The
>family consented and the little turtle left. Three years passed and
the
>little turtle had not returned. Five years... six years... then on the
>seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain
his
>hunger. He announced that he was going to eat and begun to unwrap a
>sandwich. At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from
behind a
>tree shouting, "SEE! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to
go get
>the salt."
>[Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our
>expectations. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we
don't
>do anything ourselves.]
>The human heart, at whatever age, opens only to the heart that opens
in
>return'
When we lose the right to be different we lose the privilege to be
free. -Charles EVANS Hughes
Dance like no 1 is watching Sing like no 1 is listening LOVE like u'll
never get hurt & Live like it's Heaven on Earth.~HBK
---------------------------------

love is BLIND
but marriage is a real EYE-OPENER