the crab and the pearl

  Once there was a crab walking along the beach and it came across a pearl. The crab knew right away that this round gem was not only beautiful to gaze upon but it must be worth a great deal so it quickly took the pearl back to its burrow and hid it, in its […]

Belladonna

The disciple said to the master: “I have spent a great deal of my life seeing things that I should not, wishing for things I should not wish for, making plans I should not be doing.” The master invited the disciple to go for a walk.  On the path he pointed out to a plant […]

bag of gold (discontent)

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content. One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King. Why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so […]

Sculpting the Mind

A great sculptor was out and about searching for a stone that he could work on for his next sculpture. When he found one suitable to his liking he dragged it home and began working on it. Chipping away at it, sanding it smoothly and after several months he was finished. Any and everyone who […]

spider web

A Spider’s Web (Author Unknown) A young soldier found himself in a terrible battle during the Scottish Reformation. The enemy was soundly defeating this young man’s army. He and his comrades found themselves hastily retreating from the battle field in defeat, running away in fear of their very lives. The enemy gave chase. This young […]

Reality, an American Indian Tale

A Sioux Story Author: Unknown The Creator gathered all of Creation and said: “I want to hide something from the humans until they are ready for it. It is the realization that they create their own reality.” The eagle said, “Give it to me, I will take it to the moon.” The Creator said, “No. […]

the bow (balance)

Once the great Anthony of the Desert was relaxing with his disciples outside his hut when a hunter came by. The hunter was surprised to see Anthony relaxing, and rebuffed him for taking it easy. It was not his idea of what a holy monk should be doing. Anthony replied, “Bend your bow and shoot […]

a zen master, dreams

The great Taoist master Chuang Tzu once dreamt that he was a butterfly fluttering here and there. In the dream he had no awareness of his individuality as a person. He was only a butterfly. Suddenly, he awoke and found himself laying there, a person once again. But then he thought to himself, “Was I […]

blind horse, guide horse*

  (I read this at (the witty word wizards blog)… Cat, I asked her if I could add it to the zendictive collection of zen tales and she warmly did not hesitate in saying “Yes” which is what I love about her and those here at WordPress…sharing wisdom! ) Catlas Crosses the Internet (from Cat’s blog… here) For those […]

Challenges

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever.  The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. If the return trip took more […]