Story-telling..

This is obviously not my work. I copied it from an email that I received. I found the stories are worth sharing. Have fun reading...

Lesson 1: The Turtle Family

A turtle family decided to go on a picnic.

The turtles, being naturally slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing. Finally, the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place. During the second year of their journey, they found a place

ideal for them at last!

For about six months, they cleaned the area, unpacked the picnic basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they discovered they had forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed. After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home. Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. Eventually, he agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned.

The family consented, and the little turtle left.

Three years passed but the little turtle did not return.

Five years…...

Six years…….

Then on the seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He announced that he was going to eat and begun to unwrap a sandwich.

At that point of time, the little turtle, who had all this while been hiding behind a tree, suddenly popped out from behind the tree shouting, 'See! I knew you wouldn't wait for me. I got you!! OK, so now, I will go and get the salt. You all wait till I come back!’

The Moral of the Story

Firstly, many of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our expectations.

We are so concerned about what checking on others are doing that we do not do anything ourselves.

Secondly, the one we think is most suitable to do the job may not necessarily be able to do it well, if his attitude is not correct.

Lesson 2: The Million Frog legs

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, 'There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs - millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!'

So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred a day for the next several weeks.

The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs.

The restaurant owner asked, 'Well... where are all the frog legs?'

The farmer said, 'Sorry, I was mistaken. I found out there were actually only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a hell lot of noise!'

The Moral of the Story

Firstly, remember. next time, you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs.

Also remember that problems always seem bigger in the dark.

Have you ever lied down in your bed at night worrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a million frogs croaking?

Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and you take a closer look, you begin to wonder what all the fuss was about.

Secondly, don’t just simply jump to conclusion and try to act based on unfounded worries. Don’t try to sell the million frog legs when you only think that there are millions of frogs. You might have to do something but you probably won’t have to do anything that much to try to solve the problem.

Lesson 3: The Monk and The Pretty Lady

Once upon a time, a big monk and a little monk were travelling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade in the water across the river. Then they saw that there was a pretty young lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river.

The big monk offered to carry her across the river on his back. The lady accepted.

The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk. 'How can big brother carry and touch the lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?' thought the little monk.

But he kept quiet...

The big monk carried the lady across the river, and the small monk followed behind unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk gently let the lady down and they parted ways with her. The monk went on their way, and the lady hers.

All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the despicable act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about big monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big monk did not show any inclination to explain his action or situation.

Finally, at a resting point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. 'How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me about chastity and righteousness make you nothing a big hypocrite!!’

The big monk looked surprised and said, 'I did a good thing and helped the desperate young lady, but you would rather turn a blind eye to her and left her alone in her helplessness. I had already put down her at the river bank many hours ago, but how come you are still carrying her all along all this while?'

The Moral of the Story

This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of many people today.

Firstly, the little monk is grossly concerned about what he thinks is right or wrong. He has not been able to see the picture of goodness in the heart of the bigger monk. We often judge others merely by their actions, and forget to try to understand their intentions in so acting.

Secondly, we often encounter many unpleasant things in our life, things which don’t seem right to us; they irritate us and they make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt, sometimes, they cause us to be bitter or jealous.

Like the little monk, we are not willing to let them go away. We keep on carrying the baggage of the 'pretty lady' with us. We let them haunt us, and let them keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter, cause us a lot of frustration and agony.

Why?

Simply because, like the little monk, we keep thinking of the problem with the ‘pretty lady’.

We should learn to let go of the ‘pretty lady’ the moment we cross the river, and go on the journey without the burden.