Each Person Shines In Their Own Way

A samurai who was known for his nobility and honesty went to visit a Zen monk to ask him for his advice.  He saw that the monk was meditating.  He watched him and waited until he was finished.  He then walked up to the monk and said, “Why do I feel inferior? I have faced death so many times, and have defended those who are weak. Nevertheless, upon seeing you meditating, I felt that my life had absolutely no importance whatsoever.”

The monk said, “I have to attend to all those who have come to see me today. Wait for me here, and when I am done, I shall answer you.” 

The samurai spent the whole day sitting in the temple gardens, watching the people go in and out in search of advice. He saw how the monk received them all with the same patience and illuminating smile on his face.

At nightfall, when everyone had gone, he asked: “Now can you teach me?”

The monk walked over to him in the garden and told him to look up at the sky.  As they both looked up, they saw a full moon shining in the darkness.  The atmosphere was one of profound tranquility.

“Do you see the moon; how beautiful it is? It will cross the entire sky tonight, and tomorrow the sun will shine once again. The sunlight is much brighter and can show the details of the landscape around us: the trees, the mountains, the clouds. I have contemplated this for two years and I have never heard the moon say: why do I not shine like the sun? Is it because I am inferior?”

“Of course not.”- Answered the samurai. “The moon and the sun are different things; each has its own beauty. You cannot compare the two.”

 “So, you know the answer,” the monk said. We are two different people, each trying to make the world a better place in our own way.

Time With Someone You Love

A man came home from work late, tired, and irritated. He had a really difficult day at the office. As he walked into the house, he found his 5-year-old daughter waiting for him at the door.

‘Daddy, may I ask you a question?’

‘Yeah sure, what it is?’ replied the man.

‘Daddy, how much do you make an hour?’

‘That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?’ the man said angrily.

‘I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?’

‘If you must know, I make $50 an hour.’

‘Oh,’ the little girl replied, with her head down.

‘Daddy, may I please borrow $25?’

The father was furious, ‘If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don’t work hard every day for such frivolous things.’  The little girl quietly went to her room and shut the door.  The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little girl’s questions. How dare she ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think:

Maybe there was something she really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn’t ask for money very often the man went to the door of the little girl’s room and opened the door.

‘Are you asleep?’ He asked.

‘No daddy, I’m awake,’ replied the girl.

‘I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier’ said the man. ‘It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $25 you asked for.’

The little girl sat straight up, smiling. ‘Oh, thank you daddy!’ he yelled. Then, reaching under her pillow she pulled out some crumpled-up bills.

The man saw that the girl already had money, started to get angry again.

The little girl slowly counted out her money, and then looked up at her father.

‘Why do you want more money if you already have some?’ the father grumbled.

‘Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,’ she replied.

‘Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Then you can come home early tomorrow and have dinner with me and then after dinner, we can have some time to play together.’

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.

Luck Favors Those Who Help Themselves

A flood was threatening a small town and everyone was evacuating, heading for a safe place to weather the flood. Everyone left except one man who said, "God will save me. I have faith."

As the water level rose a jeep came to rescue him, the man refused, saying "God will save me. I have faith."

As the water level rose further, he went up to the second story of his house, and a boat came to help him. Again, he refused to go, saying, "God will save me. I have faith."

The water kept rising and the man climbed on to the roof. A helicopter came to rescue him, but he said, "God will save me. I have faith."

Well, finally the man drowned. When he reached his Maker he angrily questioned, "I had complete faith in you. Why did you ignore my prayers and let me drown?"

The Lord replied, "Who do you think sent you the jeep, the boat, and the helicopter?”

Ubuntu

An Anthropologist proposed a game to the children of an African tribe. He placed a basket of fruits near a tree and made them stand 100 meters away.

The anthropologist then announced that whoever reaches the tree first will get all the fruits in the basket.

When he said Ready, set, go…Do you know what these small children did?

They all took each other’s hands and ran towards the tree together, divided the fruits among them, and enjoyed eating them all.

When the Anthropologist asked them why they did that, they said, “Ubuntu, which meant:

‘How can one be happy when all the others are sad?’ Ubuntu in their language means:

‘I am because we are!’

Moral: Let us all always carry this attitude within us and spread happiness, wherever we go…!

Finding Happiness

200 people attended a seminar on mental and physical health. At one point, the speaker told the group they were going to do an activity. He gave each attendee one balloon and told them to write their name on it. Then, the balloons were collected and moved into a very small room. The participants were then asked to go into the other room and were given 2 minutes to find their balloon.

It was chaos…

People were searching frantically for their balloon, pushing each other and running into one another while they grabbed a balloon, looked at it, and inevitably tossed it to the side.

At the end of the 2 minutes, no one had found the balloon that had their name on it.

Then, the speaker asked the participants to pick up one balloon at random, look at the name, and return it to its owner. Within minutes, everyone had been reunited with their original balloon.

The speaker then told the group, “This is what it’s like when people are frantically searching for their own happiness in life. People push others aside to get the things that they want and that they believe will bring them happiness. However, our happiness actually lies in helping other people and working together as a community.”

The Moral: Happiness and fulfillment rarely come from selfish pursuits, but almost always come from doing good deeds for others. By helping others we help ourselves.

Three Rich Men and Their Kindness

Once upon a time, there was a very poor village.  One day, three rich men and their servants were traveling on the same road and came upon this poor village.  Seeing how poor everyone was, all three men decided to help the people.

The first man couldn’t see their poverty, so he took all the gold and silver from his wagons and shared them among the villagers. He wished them all the best and left.

The second rich man, seeing the poverty and condition of the village, decided to help them. So, he gave away all his food and drink. He thought that money couldn’t be of much use to them. He made sure that each one in the village got enough food and drink to last for a long time. Then he left.

The third rich man, after seeing the poverty of the villagers, sped up and traveled straight through the village without stopping.  The other two rich men saw this from a distance and commented to each other how the third rich man lacked decency and compassion, and it was good that they helped those villagers.

Three days later, the two rich men met the third rich man, who was traveling back to the village. His wagon was now filled with farming equipment, tools, and sacks of seeds and grains. He was heading to the village of poor people to help them out.  There are some generous people who give only so that people can see how generous they are, but in reality, they don’t want to know anything about the people they are giving to.  But some generous people don’t care what others think of them. Instead, they are truly concerned and think about the best ways to improve the lives of those whom they are helping. They give things much more valuable than money; they give their time, vision, and their lives.

Moral:  If we see someone in need, we should try to know their problem and find the best way to help them solve their own problem.

The Wise Sage

There once was a wise sage who wandered the countryside. One day, as he passed near a village, he was approached by a woman who told him of a sick child nearby. She beseeched him to help this child.

So the sage came to the village, and a crowd gathered around him, for such a man was a rare sight. One woman brought the sick child to him, and he said a prayer over her.

"Do you really think your prayer will help her, when medicine has failed?" yelled a man from the crowd.

"You know nothing of such things! You are a stupid fool!" said the sage to the man.

The man became very angry with these words and his face grew hot and red. He was about to say something, or perhaps strike out, when the sage walked over to him and said: "If one word has such power as to make you so angry and hot, may not another have the power to heal?"

And thus, the sage healed two people that day.


Moral: Language does have the power to change reality. Therefore, treat your words as the mighty instruments they are - to heal, to bring into being, to nurture, to cherish, to bless, to forgive.

Improving Self Confidence

One day, a boy was called upon to recite in front of his class at school. He had hardly begun when the teacher interrupted with an emphatic, “No!” He started over and again the teacher thundered, “No!” Humiliated, Henry sat down.

The next boy rose to recite and had just begun when the teacher shouted, “No!” This student, however, kept on with the recitation until he completed it. As he sat down, the teacher replied, “Very good!”

The first boy was irritated. “I recited just as he did,” he complained to the teacher.

But the instructor replied, “It is not enough to know your lesson, you must be sure. When you allowed me to stop you, it meant that you were uncertain. If the world says, ‘No!’ it is your business to say, ‘Yes!’ and prove it.

Moral: The world will say, ‘No!’ in a thousand ways.

‘No! You can’t do that.’
‘No! You are wrong.’
‘No! You are too old.’
‘No! You are too young.’
‘No! You are too weak.’
‘No! It will never work.’
‘No! You don’t have the education.’

‘No! You don’t have the money.’
 ‘No! It can’t be done.’

And each ‘No!’ you hear has the potential to erode your confidence bit by bit until you quit altogether. Though the world says, ‘No!’ to you today, you should be determined to say, ‘Yes!’ and prove it! ”

Pointing Out Other’s Mistakes

Once a Master was sitting with his four students, teaching them a lesson. After he completed that lesson he said to his disciples, “All four of you should learn this lesson yourselves and remember that no one should speak until come back. I will be back in an hour and then we will discuss the meaning of this lesson.”

After saying this, the master left. The students sat there and started to read and learn their lesson.  After a while, sky got cloudy and they heard thunder in the distance.  Seeing this, one of the students said, “Uh oh, it is going to rain today.”  The second student responded, “Why are you talking? Master has asked us to stay silent until he comes back and now you have disobeyed him. The” third student said to the second one, “See, now even you are speaking...!”

Those three students spoke in master’s absence, but the fourth student still didn’t say anything and silently kept studying that lesson.  After an hour master came back.  As soon as the disciples saw the master, they all started pointing at each other.  The second student pointed to the first student and said, “Master, he spoke in your absence.”  The first student said, “So what?? You spoke as well.”  The third student said, “Master, they both disobeyed you.”  Just then the first one said, “Who are you to say so? Even you spoke in master absence at that time.”

Seeing this master silenced all of them and said, “It means all three of you spoke in my absence. The only one who obeyed me was the fourth student.  He was the only one to follow my instructions properly. Surely, he will become a better person in the future.  I am not sure about the three for you. You all disobeyed me just to complain about the other one and because of this you didn’t realize your own mistake.”

After listening to the master those three disciples felt very ashamed about the way they acted and accepted their mistake. They asked for forgiveness and promised to never repeat that mistake again.

Moral:  This happens with most of us. We focus so much on pointing out other people's mistakes that we don’t realize that we ourselves are making the same mistake.  For a peaceful mind and a happy heart, instead of pointing out others' mistakes be on the lookout for your own mistakes and correct them.

The Best Tailor In Town

A man wanted to have a suit made. So, he went to the best tailor in town, who was named Zumbach. Zumbach took his measurements and ordered the best material.
The man went in for the final fitting, and he put on the suit. One sleeve was two inches longer than the other. He said, “Zumbach I don’t want to complain. It’s a beautiful suit. But this sleeve is two inches longer than that sleeve.” Zumbach looked affronted. He said, “There’s nothing wrong with the suit. It’s the way you are standing.” And he pushed one of the man’s shoulders down and the other one up, and he said, “See if you stand like that, it fits perfectly.”
The fellow looked in the mirror again, and there was all this loose material behind the collar. He said, “Zumbach what’s all this material sticking out?” Zumbach said, “There is nothing wrong with that suit. It’s the way you are standing.” And he pushed in the man’s chin and made him hunch his shoulders. “See, it’s perfect.”
Finally, the suit fit perfectly, and the man left. He was walking to the bus in his new, perfectly fitting suit, and somebody came up to him and said, “What a beautiful suit! I bet Zumbach, the tailor, made it.”
The man said, “How did you know?”
“Because only a tailor of Zumbach’s skill could make a suit fit so perfectly on somebody as crippled as you are.”

Moral:  Like the man in the story, many of us spend our lives twisting ourselves into roles, positions and careers that are unnatural and uncomfortable.  We hope to gain acceptance from our parents, friends, spouses, clients, colleagues, and others whose approval we desire. Sometimes, some degree of accommodation is necessary, but if we try to fit into the Zumbach suit too often, eventually, we will damage our integrity and lose our sense of self-worth.
Heed the warning signs. Stop focusing on what you think others expect of you and start recognizing what it is that you deeply desire for yourself and search for the truth within your own heart. 

Another Side To The Story

A father was reading his favorite magazine. His little daughter was playing loudly and distracting him. Trying to keep his daughter busy, he tore out a page in the magazine which showed a map of the world. He then tore the page into pieces and asked her to go to her room and put them together to make the map again. Having done this, the father was now convinced he would read his magazine without any disturbance and also that it would take his daughter hours to get it done.

Five minutes later, the little girl came back into the room with the map put together perfectly. The curious and confused father asked his daughter how she could do it so quickly. She giggled and said, "Oh…Dad, there was a picture of Buddha’s face on the other side of the page. I made His face perfect to get the map right.” Satisfied with the answer, she ran outside to play leaving the father quite surprised.

Moral of the story: In life, there is always the other side to whatever you experience. Whenever we encounter a challenge or puzzling situation, look at the other side, you will be surprised to see an easy way to tackle the problem.

Heaven and Hell

A samurai warrior walked into a monastery and asked to speak to the zen master. The master came out and said, “What do you want? “I want to know about heaven and hell,” said the samurai. “Do they really exist?” he asked.

The zen master looked at the soldier and asked, “Who are you?”

“I am a samurai,” announced the proud warrior.

“Ha!” exclaimed the master. “What makes you think you can understand such insightful things? You are merely a callous, brutish soldier! You are dirty and stupid. Go away and do not waste my time with your foolish questions,” The master waved his hand to drive away the samurai.

The samurai became enraged. He couldn’t take the master’s insults. He drew his sword, ready to drive it through the master’s chest, when the master calmly said, “This is hell.”

The soldier was taken aback. His face softened. Humbled by the wisdom of the master, he put away his sword and bowed before the Zen Master, who calmly replied, “And this is heaven,”

Moral: Anger is the surest door to hell. It destroys one’s power of thinking and understanding

The Elephant Reaction

Once upon a time, an elephant was coming back to its herd after a bath in the nearby river. On her way, she saw a pig walking toward her. The Pig was coming from rolling around in the muddy water and was completely covered in mud. When the elephant and the pig were approaching each other, the pig saw that the elephant moved aside to allow the pig to pass. While walking past, the pig made fun of the elephant, saying that the elephant was afraid of him. The pig went to the other pigs that were nearby and told them about it. Listening to this, the other pigs began to laugh at the elephant. When the elephant had reached its herd, the other elephants, who were watching all this, also started to laugh at their elephant friend. One of the asked, “were you really afraid of that pig?” The elephant smiled and replied, “No my friend. I could have crushed him under my feet if I wanted to, but that pig was all muddy and if I had not let him pass, then that mud would have splashed all over me. That’s why I avoided him and stepped out of the way.”

Moral: The pig covered in mud represents people with negative energy. When we interact with such people, we allow our space to be infiltrated by that energy, too. The elephant represents our true self. Even though the elephant could have reacted angrily at this, she was wise and understood not to waste energy on such a petty thing and just let it go. In our life, we should not let such people disturb our peace. Rather than fighting and arguing with them, one should just ignore it. Once you learn that you do not need to be distracted by such petty things, you can focus all your energy on things that matter and simply ignore things that don’t matter much.

The Seasons of Life

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn to not judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

The second son said no – it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed, he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but one season in the tree’s life.

But he told them, "you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season. The essence of who they are – and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life – can only be measured by seeing the many cycles of life or at the end, when all the seasons are up”.

If you give up when it’s winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.  Don’t judge a life by one difficult season. Don’t let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

Foolish Monkeys

One night, the weather was freezing cold outside. A group of monkeys were on a tree, clinging to its branches. One of the monkeys said, “I wish we could find some fire. It will help us keep warm.”

Suddenly they noticed a flock of fireflies. One of the young monkeys thought it was a fire. He caught one of the fireflies and put it under a dry leaf and started blowing at it. Some other monkeys also joined in his efforts.

In the meanwhile, a mother sparrow returned to its nest, which was on the same tree the monkeys were sitting on. She noticed what they were doing. The sparrow laughed and said, “Hey silly monkeys that’s a firefly, not real fire. I think all of you should take shelter in a cave to stay warm.”

The monkeys did not listen to the sparrow. They continued to blow at the poor firefly.

After some time, the monkeys became very tired and cold. Now they realized that what the sparrow had said was correct, so they set the firefly free and moved to a nearby cave.

Moral: While persistence is one of the most defining qualities of a good student, there’s always something new to be learned every day! The monkeys in the story sure are persistent but their hard work didn’t pay off because they refused to listen, at least initially. Always listen to what your elders have to say.  They have more experience than you!

Appreciation of Hard Work

A young academically smart boy went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the 1st interview.  The director of the company did the last interview.  The director saw that the youth’s academic achievements were excellent throughout his school years. The director asked, “Did you get any scholarships for school?” The youth answered “none”.  The director asked, “Was it your father who paid for your tuition?” The youth answered, “My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees”.

The director asked, “Where did your mother work?” The youth answered, “My mother worked as a clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect”. The director asked, “Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?” The youth answered, “Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me”.  The director said, “I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother’s hands, and then see me tomorrow morning”.

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid. The youth cleaned his mother’s hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed his clothes every day to enable him to pay the school fee. The next morning, the youth went to the director’s office. The Director noticed the tears in the youth’s eyes and asked, “Can you tell me what you did and learned yesterday in your house?” The youth answered, “I cleaned my mother’s hands and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes.”

The Director asked, “Please tell me your feelings”. The youth said, “Number 1, I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, I would not be successful.   Number 2, By working with her, I now know how hard she has worked. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationships.  The director said, “This is what I am looking for in my next manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired”. 

Moral: If one doesn’t understand and experience the difficulty it takes to earn the comfort provided by their loved ones, then they will never value it. The most important thing is to experience the difficulty and learn to value hard work behind all the given comfort.

The Couple on the Donkey

A man and his wife were traveling with their donkey.

On the first day, both rode on his back. In town, they heard people whispering: “What a mean couple, putting all that weight on the donkey.”

On the second day, the man rode and the wife walked beside him. People whispered: “What a cruel man, forcing his wife to walk while he rides on the donkey.”

On the third day, the man walked, and the wife rode the donkey. People said: “What a careless man, letting his wife ride alone on the donkey.”

On the fourth day, both walked beside the donkey. Again, people whispered: “What a stupid couple! Why walk if they could ride on the donkey?”

Moral:  No matter what you do, people will judge you. We just can’t help but offer our opinions. Even if we don’t voice them, we’ll always think these things.  If you find yourself thinking the lady on the bus is rude, she’s probably just scared, stressed, or confused. Maybe all three. We love to generalize behavior and see people that way, when, really, most of what we do is a result of how we are feeling at that moment.

A Man With A Lamp

A Man With A Lamp

Once upon a time, there lived a blind man. He lived by himself in a small town. Whenever he would go out at night, he would always carry a lighted lamp with him.

One night, after dinner at a restaurant, he began walking home in the dark. He came across a group of young travelers. They saw that he was blind, yet he was carrying a lighted lamp. They started making jokes about him. They made fun of him and called him names. One of them asked him, “Hey Blind Man! You are blind and can’t see anything! Why do you carry the lamp with you?!”

The blind man replied, “Yes, unfortunately, I am blind, and I can’t see anything but this lighted lamp which I am carrying is for the people like you, so you can see ME in the dark. You may not see me coming and end up pushing me down. That is why I carry a lighted lamp”.

The group of travelers felt ashamed and then apologized for their behavior.

Moral: We should think before judging others. Always be polite and learn to see things from others’ points of view.

True Wealth

There was a boy whose family was very wealthy. One day, his father took him on a trip to the country, where he aimed to show his son how poor people live. They arrived at the farm of a very poor family and spent several days there, living with them. On their return, the father asked his son if he liked the trip.

“Oh, it was great, Dad,” – the boy replied. “Did you see how poor people live?”asked the father. “Yeah, I did “- said the boy. The father asked his son to tell him more about his impressions from their trip “.

“Well, we have only one dog, and they have four of them. In our garden there is a pool, while they have a river that has no end. We’ve got expensive lanterns, but they have stars above their heads at night. We have the patio, and they have the whole horizon. We have only a small piece of land, while they have endless fields. We buy food, but they grow it. We have a high fence to protect our property, and they don’t need it, as their friends protect them.”

The father was stunned. He could not say a word.

Then the boy added: “Thank you, Dad, for letting me see how poor we are.”

Moral: This story shows that true wealth, as well as happiness, is not measured by material things. Love, friendship, and freedom are far more valuable.