Buddhism/ Zen stories

[acousticjunkie]

I thought that I would share one of my favorite Zen stories, "Fleeing the Tiger".
The story goes:

One day while walking through the wilderness a man stumbled upon a vicious tiger. He ran but soon came to the edge of a high cliff.
Desperate to save himself, he climbed down a vine and dangled over the fatal precipice. As he hung there, two mice appeared from a hole in the cliff and began gnawing on the vine.

Suddenly, he noticed on the vine a plump wild strawberry. He plucked it and popped it in his mouth. It was incredibly delicious!


Does anyone else have any Zen stories that they like?

[godofcereal]

Im sorry but that story made little sense. Could you simplify it please.

[acousticjunkie]

Im sorry but that story made little sense. Could you simplify it please.

The stories basic moral is to enjoy life while you have it, make the best of a bad situation and so on. Zen stories usually leave bits for you to figure out, that's why I like them.

[godofcereal]

Ah get you know. Its a good story now i understand the moral.

[kijibwa]

That Fleeing the tiger story is nice.I have one from the indian tradition.

A girl walking through the forest , sees an old man crouching by the riverside , she stops to watch what he is doing.
There is a scorpion struggling in the water,
the old man reaches down pulls the scorpion from the water and releases it onto the riverbank,
whereupon the scorpion promptly raises its tail, stings the old man on the hand and runs off back
into the river, where it soon flounders and is in danger of drowning.
The old man reaches down, retrieves the scorpion and releases it onto the riverbank.
Again the scorpion stings the old man and rushes headlong back into the water,
again the old man rescues the scorpion, again the scorpion stings him.
This continues, until eventually , upon being set down on the riverbank ,
the scorpion scuttles away into the forest undergrowth.
The girl in amazement addresses the old man.
<girl> "Oh respected elder, why did you do that? The scorpion could have killed you."
<old man>"Oh daughter, it is the dharma of the scorpion to sting, but it is the dharma of man to save."