More is not enough

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. Through the open gateway,
he saw many fine possessions and important visitors. "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, but envied and detested by
those less wealthy than himself. 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.

Knowing Fish

One day Chuang Tzu and a friend were walking by a river. "Look at the fish
swimming about," said Chuang Tzu, "They are really enjoying themselves."
"You are not a fish," replied the friend, "So you can't truly know that they
are enjoying themselves."

"You are not me," said Chuang Tzu. "So how do you know that I do not
know that the fish are enjoying themselves?"

Is that so ?

A beautiful girl in the village was pregnant. Her angry parents demanded to
know who was the father. At first resistant to confess, the anxious and
embarrassed girl finally pointed to Hakuin, the Zen master whom everyone
previously revered for living such a pure life. When the outraged parents
confronted Hakuin with their daughter's accusation, he simply replied "Is
that so?"

When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was
viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care of
the child since it was his responsibility. "Is that so?" Hakuin said calmly as
he accepted the child.

For many months he took very good care of the child until the daughter
could no longer withstand the lie she had told. She confessed that the real
father was a young man in the village whom she had tried to protect. The
parents immediately went to Hakuin to see if he would return the baby. With
profuse apologies they explained what had happened. "Is that so?" Hakuin
said as he handed them the child.

Holy Man

Word spread across the countryside about the wise Holy Man who lived in a
small house atop the mountain. A man from the village decided to make the
long and difficult journey to visit him. When he arrived at the house, he saw
an old servant inside who greeted him at the door. "I would like to see the
wise Holy Man," he said to the servant. The servant smiled and led him
inside. As they walked through the house, the man from the village looked
eagerly around the house, anticipating his encounter with the Holy Man.

Before he knew it, he had been led to the back door and escorted outside. He
stopped and turned to the servant, "But I want to see the Holy Man!"
"You already have," said the old man. "Everyone you may meet in life, even
if they appear plain and insignificant... see each of them as a wise Holy Man.
If you do this, then whatever problem you brought here today will be
solved."

The gift of insults

There once lived a great warrior. Though quite old, he still was able to defeat
any challenger. His reputation extended far and wide throughout the land
and many students gathered to study under him.

One day an infamous young warrior arrived at the village. He was
determined to be the first man to defeat the great master. Along with his
strength, he had an uncanny ability to spot and exploit any weakness in an
opponent. He would wait for his opponent to make the first move, thus
revealing a weakness, and then would strike with merciless force and
lightning speed. No one had ever lasted with him in a match beyond the first
move.

Much against the advice of his concerned students, the old master gladly
accepted the young warrior's challenge. As the two squared off for battle, the
young warrior began to hurl insults at the old master. He threw dirt and spit
in his face. For hours he verbally assaulted him with every curse and insult
known to mankind. But the old warrior merely stood there motionless and
calm. Finally, the young warrior exhausted himself. Knowing he was
defeated, he left feeling shamed.

Somewhat disappointed that he did not fight the insolent youth, the students
gathered around the old master and questioned him. "How could you endure
such an indignity? How did you drive him away?"
"If someone comes to give you a gift and you do not receive it," the master
replied, "to whom does the gift belong?"

Destiny

During a momentous battle, a Japanese general decided to attack even
though his army was greatly outnumbered. He was confident they would win,
but his men were filled with doubt. On the way to the battle, they stopped at
a religious shrine. After praying with the men, the general took out a coin
and said, "I shall now toss this coin. If it is heads, we shall win. If tails, we
shall lose. Destiny will now reveal itself."

He threw the coin into the air and all watched intently as it landed. It was
heads. The soldiers were so overjoyed and filled with confidence that they
vigorously attacked the enemy and were victorious. After the battle, a
lieutenant remarked to the general, "No one can change destiny."

"Quite right," the general replied as he showed the lieutenant the coin, which
had heads on both sides.

Concentration

After winning several archery contests, the young and rather boastful
champion challenged a Zen master who was renowned for his skill as an
archer.

The young man demonstrated remarkable technical proficiency
when he hit a distant bull's eye on his first try, and then split that arrow with
his second shot.

"There," he said to the old man, "see if you can match that!"
Undisturbed, the master did not draw his bow, but rather motioned for the
young archer to follow him up the mountain. Curious about the old fellow's
intentions, the champion followed him high into the mountain until they
reached a deep chasm spanned by a rather flimsy and shaky log.

Calmly stepping out onto the middle of the unsteady and certainly perilous bridge,
the old master picked a far away tree as a target, drew his bow, and fired a
clean, direct hit. "Now it is your turn," he said as he gracefully stepped back
onto the safe ground.

Staring with terror into the seemingly bottomless and beckoning abyss,
the young man could not force himself to step out onto the log, no less shoot at a target.

"You have much skill with your bow," the master said, sensing his challenger's predicament,
"but you have little skill with the mind that lets loose the shot."

Chasing two rabbits

A martial arts student approached his teacher with a question. "I'd like to
improve my knowledge of the martial arts. In addition to learning from you,
I'd like to study with another teacher in order to learn another style. What
do you think of this idea?"

"The hunter who chases two rabbits," answered the master, "catches neither
one."

The Ghost

The wife of a man became very sick. On her deathbed, she said to him, "I
love you so much! I don't want to leave you, and I don't want you to betray
me. Promise that you will not see any other women once I die, or I will come
back to haunt you."

For several months after her death, the husband did avoid other women, but
then he met someone and fell in love. On the night that they we re engaged to
be married, the ghost of his former wife appeared to him. She blamed him
for not keeping the promise, and every night thereafter she returned to taunt
him. The ghost would remind him of everything that transpired between him
and his fiancee that day, even to the point of repeating, word for word, their
conversations. It upset him so badly that he couldn't sleep at all.

Desperate, he sought the advice of a Zen master who lived near the village.
"This is a very clever ghost," the master said upon hearing the man's story.
"It is!" replied the man. "She remembers every detail of what I say and do.
It knows everything!" The master smiled, "You should admire such a ghost,
but I will tell you what to do the next time you see it."

That night the ghost returned. The man responded just as the master had
advised. "You are such a wise ghost," the man said, "You know that I can
hide nothing from you. If you can answer me one question, I will break off
the engagement and remain single for the rest of my life." "Ask your
question," the ghost replied. The man scooped up a handful of beans from a
large bag on the floor, "Tell me exactly how many beans there are in my
hand."

At that moment the ghost disappeared and never returned.