A violent samurai who was known for picking fights for no reason at all arrived at the door of a Zen monastery and asked to speak to the master. Without a moment's hesitation, Ryokan came out to meet him.
"They say that intelligence is more powerful than strength," said the samurai. "I wonder if you could explain to me the meaning of heaven and hell." Riokan remained silent.
"You see" roared the samurai."I could explain that very easily: to show what hell is, all I need to do is beat someone up. To show what heaven is, just let a person go free after menacing him a lot."
"I don't argue with stupid people like you," said the Zen master. This made the samurai's blood boil. His mind was filled with hatred. "Now, that is hell," said Ryokan, smiling.
"Letting yourself be angered by silly things."
The monk's courage disconcerted the warrior, and he relaxed.
"And that is heaven," added Ryokan, inviting him in.
"Not reacting to silly provocations."
Monday, June 23, 2008
Inspiration Stories
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4 comments:
Beautiful serene story Sas! What a lovely reminder :)..brilliant shots ..very apt for the text. Love the vase one too..amazing light...
Have a lovely evening.
Vani
I have read almost every Paolo Coelho book. I love this text and beautiful pictures as always.
Thank you dear Vani and Elisa,
So lovely to hear you like the story and my work.
I have no idea what these little furry flowers are but I loved them right away when I saw them in my garden. Some kind of weed, but so beautiful and lovely hihi
Big hug to you both and take care,
with love, Sas
Sas, that's a beautiful story. So hard to follow unless we practice it consciously daily :) I love the pics, they are so soft and airy flowers...you have the talent to make weeds look so beautiful!
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