Zen Master in Jail

A Zen master (Zen Master is a title given to an individual who teaches Zen Buddhism to others) had been put into jail several times. Now, it is one thing to forgive a thief, it is one thing not to think that he is bad, it is another thing to go to jail oneself. And not once, many times – for stealing small things from his neighbours. And the neighbours knew, and they were puzzled: Why does this man steal? and such small things. But the moment he would be out of prison he would steal again, and he would go back. Even the judges were worried. But they had to send him to jail, because he would confess.
He would never say, ’I have not stolen.’
Finally the neighbours gathered together, and they said, ’Sir, don’t steal any more. You are getting old, and we are ready to provide you with all that you need – all your necessities, whatsoever it is. You stop this! We are very much worried, and we are very sad. Why do you go on doing this?
And the old man laughed. And he said, ’I steal in order to get in with the prisoners, and bring them the inner message. Who will help them? Outside, for you prisoners, there are many masters. But inside the jail there is no master. Who will help them, you tell me? This is my way to get in and help those people. So when my punishment is over and I am thrown out, I have to steal something and go back again. I am going to continue this. And I have found there in jail such beautiful souls, such innocent souls – sometimes far MORE innocent....’
Once it happened, one of my friends became a governor of a state in India, and he allowed me to go into jails all over his state. And I went for years, and I was surprised. The people who are in jails are far more innocent than the politicians in New Delhi, than the rich people, than the so-called saints. I know almost all the saints of this country.

They are more cunning. I have found in the criminals such innocent souls.... I can understand this old Zen master’s idea – of stealing, of getting caught, and bringing the message to them. ’I steal in order to get in with the prisoners and bring them the inner message.’

Source: " Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol 2 " - Osho

Determination

Once, a big fat Mouse and a lively little Mouse were hopping along together, when they had the misfortune of jumping into a pail of fresh milk. They swam for hours and hours hoping to get out somehow; but the sides of the pail were steep and slippery and death seemed to be certain.
When the big Mouse was exhausted he lost courage. There seemed no hope of rescue. 'Why keep struggling against the inevitable? I cannot swim any longer.' He moaned.
'Keep on! Keep on!' urged the little Mouse, who was still circling the pail. So they went on for a while. But the big Mouse decided it was no use.
'Little brother, We may as well give up' he gasped. 'I am going to quit struggling. ‘Now only the little Mouse was left. He thought to himself. 'Well, to give up is to be dead, so I will keep swimming.'
Two more hours passed and the tiny legs of the determined little Mouse were almost paralyzed with exhaustion. It seemed as if he could not keep moving for another minute. But he thought of his dead friend, and intoxicated with determination, the little Mouse kept on swimming around and around the pail, chopping the milk into white waves. After a while, just as he felt completely numb and thought he was about to drown, he suddenly felt something solid under him.
To his astonishment, he saw that he was resting on a lump of butter which he had churned by constant paddling! And so the successful little Mouse leaped out of the milk pail to freedom.

A Rat Story

For centuries rats have been one of the most hated species on the face of the planet. In fact most people are more concerned with the eradication of rat altogether than learning anything about them. I was one in the above list till recently.
I chose to use my bike instead of my car for sometime. I parked my car in front of my house. This time along, I hadn’t started my car even once in that month. After a month when I decided to use the car, I noticed that a rat had a cozy bed in the bonnet of my car. I ignored it and thought I will clean it up some other day. Finally that some other day came a bit too late; probably after a month more. That day, I cleaned up the whole mess.
One day after that as I drove to my office, my car broke down. I left the car in the service station. When I went back to take the car, I realized what the rat had done in anger. He had blown off the fuse by damaging few wires.
All those days, when I had allowed him to be in the car, I used to drive the car. It had not done any damage till then. Once I decided to clear his mess and make no room for his comfort, he had decided to take revenge.
I should have thought about the consequences before acting. If I had thought of the consequences, I would have got rid of the smell in the bonnet, before cleaning up the rat’s home. Rats identify their setup by smell.
Also, I underestimated my tiny enemy. Underestimating is like letting a wolf in your farm. Never underestimate and definitely don’t be too overconfident for you will be arrogant and ignorant. When we view ourselves too highly and others too lightly, destruction occurs. Many huge companies ignored many small companies and eventually the roles have switched.

The lesson from this small incident was; never underestimate and never act without thinking of the consequences.

(Thanks to Raffi for sharing this incident)

Power of Belief

A businessman was deep in debt and could see no way out.Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy. Suddenly an old man appeared before him. "I can see that something is troubling you," he said. After listening to the executive's woes, the old man said, "I believe I can help you." He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time." Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world! "I can erase my money worries in an instant!" he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the un-cashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought. With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the un-cashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man."I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been bothering you. He's always escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller”. And she led the old man away by the arm. The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he'd been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him. Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around.

It was his newfound CONFIDENCE that gave him power to achieve anything he went after.

(Thanks to Santi for sharing this)

Stone Cutter

There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life. One day he passed a wealthy merchant's house. "How powerful that merchant must be!" thought the stone cutter. He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant. To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined. Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. "How powerful that official is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a high official!" Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair.

He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. "How powerful the sun is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the sun!" Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers.

But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. "How powerful that storm cloud is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a cloud!" Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone.

But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. "How powerful it is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the wind!" Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all below him.

But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it - a huge, towering rock. "How powerful that rock is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a rock!" Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth.

But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. "What could be more powerful than I, the rock?" he thought.

He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stone cutter.

(Thanks to Ramadurai for sharing this.)

Clay Balls

A man was exploring caves by the Seashore. In one of the caves, he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls, with their hidden treasure, into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each and every one of us.

Looking for the Gold

As a young Scot boy, Andrew Carnegie came to America and started doing odd jobs. He ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in the US. At one time, he had 43 millionaires working for him. Several decades ago, a million dollars used to be a lot of money. Even today, it is a lot of money. Someone asked Mr. Carnegie how he dealt with people? Andrew Carnegie replied, “Dealing with people is like digging gold. When you go digging for an ounce of gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get an ounce of gold. But when you go digging, you don’t go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold.”

So, what is your focus? Become a digger of gold. If you are looking for what is wrong with people or with things, you will find many. What are you looking for? Andrew Carnegie’s reply has a very important message. There is something positive in every person and every situation. Sometimes we have to dig deep to look for the positive because it may not be apparent. Besides, we are so used to looking for what is wrong with other people and situations, we forget to see what is right. Someone once said that even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Remember, when you go looking for gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get an ounce of gold. But when you go looking, you don’t go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold.

Thanks to Ramadurai for sharing this.