Skip to main content

Natural Course Of Life

Image
By
Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, “All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing.”

Edison replied very confidently, “Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot. We know that there are two thousand elements which we cannot use to make a good light bulb.
A rich man asked a Zen master to write something down that could encourage the prosperity of his family for years to come. It would be something that the family could cherish for generations. On a large piece of paper, the master wrote, "Father dies, son dies, grandson dies."
The rich man became angry when he saw the master's work. "I asked you to write something down that could bring happiness and prosperity to my family. Why do you give me something depressing like this?"
"If your son should die before you," the master answered, "this would bring unbearable grief to your family. If your grandson should die before your son, this also would bring great sorrow. If your family, generation after generation, disappears in the order I have described, it will be the natural course of life. This is true happiness and prosperity."
Bell Teacher
A new student approached the Zen master and asked how he should prepare himself for his training.
"Think of me to be a bell," the master explained. "Give me a soft tap,and you will get a tiny ping. Strike hard, and you'll receive a loud, resounding peal."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WE ARE SPECIAL

By
One night a man came to our house and told me, “There is a family with eight children. They have not eaten for days,” I took some food and I went. When I finally came to the family, I saw the faces of those little children disfigured by hunger. There was no sorrow or sadness in their faces, just the deep pain of hunger. I gave the rice to the mother. She divided it in two, and went out, carrying half the rice with her. When she came back, I asked her, “Where did you go?” She gave me this simple answer, “To my neighbors-they are hungry also.” I was not surprised that she gave–because poor people are generous. But I was surprised that she knew they were hungry. As a rule, when we are suffering, we are so focused on ourselves we have no time for others. ANOTHER STORY TO COMPLETE THIS A well  known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill? "Hands started going up. He said, "I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The last cab ride

By
Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. One time I arrived in the middle of the night for a pick up at a building that was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked. “Just a minute,” answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80′s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Story of Blaming

By
O nce a ship got caught in a violent storm. It wrecked and the waves cast it's wrecks on the sands of the shore. Among them was a sailor who lay senseless on the beach. When he came to his senses, he cursed the sea saying, "The sea is a cheat indeed. It attracts people with it's cool and calm waters and once they are in it's grip, it turns furious and destroys them." Hearing his reproach, the sea felt pinched. But it didn't want to trouble the sailor anymore. So, it came to the sailor in form of a damsel. "Who are you, O lovely lady?" asked the sailor. "I am the sea and am as lovely as you see me now. You are blaming me for the wreck but it isn't just." Surprised, the sailor asked, "Who is just then?" The sea urged, "The wreck was caused by the cruel winds that blew into gusts and gales over me and created stormy waves in my calm waters." The sailor had nothing to say except feeling sorry.   Moral of ...
Post a Comment
Read more