Funny true news story that reads like a Zen aphorism:

HOW WAS YOUR DAY TODAY?

The bad part: an unidentified 39-year-old man in
Moenchengladbach, Germany, lost his keys. The good part: he was pretty
sure he had accidentally tossed them into a public trash bin with some
papers. The bad part: it had a narrow opening, and the top doesn't come
off easily. The good part: he could fit his head and arm into the
opening. The bad part: he got so stuck he couldn't move. The good part:
a friend happened by, and called the fire brigade to come help. The bad
part: they couldn't get him out either, so they widened the hole and
shoved him the rest of the way in. The bad part: it took another half
hour before they were able to get the top off. The good part: by the
time he finally emerged, he had found his keys. (AFP) ...The bad part:
in his pocket.

kwan,

SO glad I wasn't drinking anything when I got to the bottom of the story! Thanks for posting and reminding me that I'm very lucky to not have such bad days and that even such a bad day can turn out well somehow!

Chuckle!

LOL I thought it got cut off at first

I was wondering what was in his pocket.

guess that shows I am having a conflicting day


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Nice Kwan

This reminds me of the zen parable, with the movement between good and bad fortune:

A farmer lived in the days when fighting was going on between small kingdoms in China. This farmer had a son. His son, with the aid of the horse, was tilling a small field. One day the horse ran away. The neighbors came and said, "It's a very bad thing. You have such bad luck." The farmer said, "Maybe." So the next day the horse came back with half a dozen other wild horses. The neighbors came again and they said, "What tremendous luck." So he said, "Maybe." On the third day the son, while trying to ride one of the wild horses, fell and broke his leg. Again, the neighbors came and said what bad luck it was, and the farmer said, "Maybe." The next day the king's people came to recruit strong healthy farmers into the army. When they found this farmer's son with a broken leg they left him alone. So, again, the neighbors came and said it wasn't such bad luck after all and that everything had turned out well. The farmer said, again, "Maybe."

Bryan,

Ah, the wisdom of reserving judgment; thanks for posting this.

Ahh yes Bryan
Once again, the evidence that everything is a perspective. It's not what happens, it what you make of it that matters.

I loved that Bryan!

yeah i like that one too

bryan

who wrote that?

was it Chuang Tze?

i don't know
maybe not

let me know if you ever find out
i read it before but forget who wrote it
its important

Bryan,
My husband, Jonathan-- a longtime student of Zen and Alan Watts-- said the same thing. His favorite Zen story is the same one you just posted, and the story I posted reminded him of the Zen story too!

Sharrhan:


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kwan who is alan watts
sounds like a translator
the name sounds familiar
translator of chinese texts to english?
maybe another watts

Alan Watts: grand old soul (now gone beyond the beyond) very popular in the 60s/70s for his books on Zen and Taoism ("Cloud-Hidden," "This is IT," etc.) There are quite a few audios and videos of him on the Internet.

Yes, I think you're right-- Alan was a scholar who was able to trasnslate many Chinese texts into English.

Sharrhan:


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What a lovely thread.

kwan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Alan Watts: grand old soul (now gone beyond the
> beyond) very popular in the 60s/70s for his books
> on Zen and Taoism ("Cloud-Hidden," "This is IT,"
> etc.) There are quite a few audios and videos of
> him on the Internet.
I have several audio cassettes of Alan Watts,
and remember him telling the Zen parable about the farmer
and his son, but couldn't remember the particulars as Bryan
did (so well).
Alan Watts never claimed to be anything more than
an Entertainer. On one of his introductions to a lecture on
Zen Buddhism (to a large group of people), he declared....roughly
quoted....."I am not a Zen Buddhist, I am not promoting Zen
Buddhism....I have nothing to sell."

WY,

That's an interesting choice of word Mr.Watts made in discussing Buddhism--"nothing to sell." I wonder if he was being sarcastic? It puts me in mind of a joke I read recently:

A yogi walked into the Zen Pizzeria and said,"Make me one with everything." When he got the pizza, he gave the pizzeria owner a twenty-dollar bill. The pizzeria owner put the bill in the register, and the yogi said, "But don't I get any change?" The pizzeria owner replied, "Change must come from within."

ha !

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Beautius Maximus!!!

Geez kwan, poor guy, in his pocket the whole time!

Bryan, nice story. I remember something similar on the TV show Northern Exposure being told by the character Marilyn.

GR8 stories!
have you ever walked around the house cursing a blue streak and wanting to murdelize whoever stole your pen? of course it's usually behind your ear or, better yet, right in your hand. heh.

>have you ever walked around the house cursing a blue streak and wanting to murdelize whoever stole your pen? of course it's usually behind your ear or, better yet, right in your hand. heh.<

Ha! All too often! I frequently find whatever it is I'm looking for, right on my person-- I've even done it with my glasses, which were on my head or in my pocket. Also, I always misplace stuff, and my husband, who's completely blind, has this maddening psychic ability to just concentrate for a moment and then immediately go somewhere in the house, swish his hands around a bit, and suddenly say "Hey, is this what you're looking for?" Invariably, he goes right to the thing I was searching all over the house for and brings it to me.

Sharrhan:


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