Parable of the Strawberry

\"Buddha told a parable in a sutra:

A man travelling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming at a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed after him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw on the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!\"


One interpretation might be that the tiger behind him was the past and the tiger below was the future. The black and white mice yin and yang and the ever present now is the strawberry.

Only by being aware of the past and future but being focused on the present can we truly appreciate life when we live in the moment.
How much of life goes by in a blink because we're obsessing over something in the past we cannot change or something in the future which only may happen?

another way to look at it could be no matter how messed up a situation is there is good there to if we look hard enough.

azrel wrote:

another way to look at it could be no matter how messed up a situation is there is good there to if we look hard enough.

That's the way I always interpreted it. I tend to not look as deeply into things as I should. Unless I shouldn't, then I read way too much into it. :laugh:

I love the deep aspect about it.......thank you white crane for this post. Thinking with out thinking is a great thing.

Todd

wow i had heard this story but never rally given it much thought i love the interpretation given

\"One interpretation might be that the tiger behind him was the past and the tiger below was the future. The black and white mice yin and yang and the ever present now is the strawberry.

Only by being aware of the past and future but being focused on the present can we truly appreciate life when we live in the moment.
How much of life goes by in a _b_link__ because we're obsessing over something in the past we cannot change or something in the future which only may happen?\"

See what happens when you post without checking. I just posted this in another thread. LOL Now I'll have to find the one about the Zen master and the turtle. How did it go...............

Good to see you again Master Merin. Welcome back.