A Zen master and a student were preparing for a meal. They were having fresh oysters that they had harvested that day. As they shucked the oysters, the student spoke, “I miss my family. It has been a long time since I have seen them. The work here at the monastery has been hard without much help. Then today, of all days you want to harvest oysters?” The Zen Master sat quietly and began shelling his oysters. The student did the same.

“You sound irritated? A mind needs food for thought,” The Zen Master said, smiling. “A body needs fuel for energy.”

The student became excited when the first oyster he opened had a pearl inside. “Look, I have been blessed with a pearl, on my first oyster.” The student said. “Am I rich?”

“Not quite,” The Master replied then continued, “take a lesson from the oyster. The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this: Irritations such as grit get into its shell. It does not like them; it tries to get rid of them. But when it cannot get rid of them, it settles down to make of them one of the most beautiful things in the world, a pearl. When you see your family, you will have become a pearl.”

The student smiled as he held the pearl up in the light. Viewing its beauty and revealing in the fact he found such a treasure. “And…” the zen master began, “Work produces a lot of grit. The resulting irritation is not without good results. To be a Pearl of Wisdom, such as a master of zen, one must have the patience of an oyster. Let this be a lesson for you.”

The student smiled and replied, “I’ve also heard it said that the world is an oyster and you are its pearl.” The zen master looked at the student and smiled.

“Flattery will get you every where, ” said the zen master. “…and that pearl you now have…” The zen master held up a pearl that he had just gotten out of an oyster, ” …these will pay for you a short trip home.” The student’s face lit up.

 

by Art~

(I have had this story in my drafts for months because I felt it wasn’t quite right. So, I doctored it up a bit and will post it, asking; how can I make this story better. What am I missing. Can it be rearranged to have a greater impact. When I went through my drafts this morning, I had plans of posting a story about milk which will probably come out tomorrow and I saw this story and figured I have tooled over it long enough. Maybe it is a pearl and it is not yet ready, if so… feel free to tell me. Bows (~_~) Humble)

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(moral; If there are irritations in your lives today, there is only one prescription: Make a pearl. It may have to be a pearl of patience, but anyhow, make a pearl. All it takes is patience, time and understanding. Take what life gives you and make something of it.)

Food for thought 

There are two kinds of people, those who complain about what life has thrown at them. Then there are those who take what life has thrown at them and they make something out of it.

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This paragraph taken from this article, it would be wise to go and read the whole article…

Oysters and Three pearls of wisdom

by Tawna @ Soul Solutions; discovering your inner wisdom

(the last paragraph)…….A pearl might be thought of as an oyster’s response to its suffering. The pearl-making process can also be our response to suffering. If we have the wisdom to entrust ourselves to the process of living, the courage to remain soft, tender and vulnerable, and the patience to methodically coat our pain in multiple layers of healing, we, too, will find that these are the very places in which wisdom will begin to grow. And if anyone looks inside our protective outer covering they will find in us a luminescent sense of the value of life and a greater capacity to live it.

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( here is my etegami for today)

inspired by;

Divya Srikanth

DeeShrek

(click on picture to enlarge)

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have a pearl of a day