A Zen Poem
A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself over the edge.
The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.
Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man then saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other.
How sweet it tasted.
I can't quite put my finger on why, but I really enjoyed reading this poem. Aside from the "moral" of the story, I like its style, its intentionally misleading narrative. It's like when someone tells a good joke. You're so caught up in the story, in the embellishments, that the punch line catches you unawares.
posted by Kris @ 12:15 PM
8 Comments:
I like the poem too . This guy is between Scylla and Charibdies (between the devil and the deep sea). In the worldly sense that is a real moment of crisis , but in the spiritual sense even under this pressure he could taste the sweetness of the strawberry.He has learned to live in God's rest.In the calmness of spirit his soul is reflecting as in a mirror the beauty of the Lord.
Moral of the Story - Even when you are looking death in the eye, you can still be hungry :)
lol. If "anonymous" is someone I know and if I had to guess who, I'd say it's one of the following people:
1) Abhi: I've never seen someone who can (and wants to) just eat and eat and eat. Even with his lean genes and though he's pretty tall, I can see the beginnings of a Buddha belly.
2) Suvash: This man cooks - ostensibly, for all his friends - but then serves himself half of all that he's prepared.
3) Lava: One time, when he was really hungry, I've heard he ate a whole stick of butter. Enough said.
Not Bad!
;)
It is no other than our voracious Abhi!!I didn't think my name will even appear;)!!
Moral of the Story - Lava Lounge rocks for eating a whole slab of butter.
- DaNextBill
lol. I concur, Thambi. That's madness. Also, I like the nom de plume, "DaNextBill". Nice!
brilliant poem...and strawberries aren't going to do much for a hungry man...perhaps a mango or a watermellon would have been better...;)
on a more serious note, i completely relate to what the poem talks about...we are soooo busy getting from point A to point B (sometimes without choice, as is the case here) that we forget to enjoy where we are...next to a ripe, juicy strawberry!
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