3 great stories *by HL LIM

The Turtles
>
> 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. 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 and the little turtle had not returned. 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 the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting,
> 'See! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt.'
>
> [Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our expectations. We
> are so concerned about what others are doing that we don't do anything ourselves.]
>
> ************ ********* ********* ********* ******
>
> The Frogs
>
> 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 at a
> time 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 said, 'Well... where are all
> the frogs?' The farmer said, 'I was mistaken. There were only these two frogs in
> the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!'
>
> [ Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember, it's
> probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that problems always seem
> bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid 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'll wonder what
> all the fuss was about.]
> ************ ********* ********* ********* *****
>
> The Pretty Lady
>
> Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together. They came
> to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade across
> the river. There was a pretty 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 a 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 unhappily. When they crossed
> the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her.
> All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act
> of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of acussations about big monk in his
> head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big monk
> had no inclination to explain his situation. Finally, at a rest 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 make you a big hypocrite The big monk looked surprised and said,
> 'I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are
> still carrying her along?'
> [This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of many people today. We
> encounter many unpleasant things in our life, 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 .. But 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
> keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot
> of agony.Why? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the
> baggage of the 'pretty lady'. We should let go of the pretty lady immediately
> after crossing the river, that is after the unpleasant event is over. This will
> immediately remove all our agonies. There is no need to be further hurt by the
> unpleasant event after it is over.]
>
> Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
>
>