Parables

• Koan or Parable?
• Donkey And Tiger Parable
• The Salt Parable
• The Fox Parable
• Walking On Water Parable
• The Shadow Parable

Koan or Parable?

"Generally" speaking, a parable is a short story (usually) with a high moral lesson.

A "Zen" Koan can also be a short story (usually) with a high moral lesson and/or a lesson about spiritual things and even a story which may not have an answer for you at your current level, but it gives you something to work towards mentally.

One of my teachers told me that Zen helps you "mow the lawn" so that you can see the trees with fruit. In other words, they can help remove the "clutter" from your thought processes and give you more focus on attaining enlightenment or kensho.

Some "stories" like the "Kakudmi" Koan leave your mind in between the physical, the esoteric, the divine and theoretical maths.

Some (again) like the Kakudmi story will leave your brain hanging off a cliff between what you think is possible and what you think is impossible.

So Let Us Start ↟↟

The Donkey and the Tiger (Parable)

The Donkey said to the Tiger, "The grass is blue."

The Tiger replied, "No, the grass is green."

The discussion heated up and the two decided to go before the Lion, the King of the jungle.

The Donkey began to shout, "Your highness, is it true that the grass is blue?"

The Lion replied, "If you believe that it's true, then the grass is blue."

The Donkey continued, "The Tiger disagrees with me, contradicts and annoys me. Please punish him."

The Lion kind asked the Toger, "Is this true Tiger, do you argue with the Donket about this matter?".

"Yes your majesty", replied the Tiger, "but I only do so because the grass is green".

The Lion pondered the situation and then came to a decision.

The King declared, "The Tiger will be punished with five years of silence."

The Donkey jumped cheerfully up and down, and went on his way.

The Tiger accepted his punishment, but before he left he asked the Lion, "Why have you punished me? After all, the grass is green."

The Lion replied, "In fact, the grass is green."

The Tiger asked, "So, why are you punishing me?"

The Lion replied, "Your punishment has nothing to do with the question of whether or not the grass is blue or green.

The punishment is because it is not logical for an intelligent creature like you to waste time arguing with an ass - and on top of that, you then come and bother me with such a hollow trite question."

The Moral

"The worst waste of time is arguing with the uneducated and the fanatic who does not care about truth or reality, but only the victory of their personal beliefs and illusions."

There are people who, no matter how much evidence we present to them, do not have the capacity to understand or comprehend - and then you have others who are blinded by ego, hatred, religion and resentment and all they want is to be right, even if they are not.

One of the most basic principles of success is to maintain a high learnability index - that is you need to remain teachable and coachable.

Constantly seek to recalibrate your mind and brain. This is why you are not born with Universal knowledge but you need to learn as you grow older.

Do not limit your age to your lifetime because you have no idea how many reincarnations your soul has actually participated in.

ALL souls are old, but NOT ALL souls are wise.

You'll find that the most successful people are always keeping their eyes, mind and ears open to improvement.

Don't get caught in the trap of arguing with those committed to misunderstanding you - whether is be by design, arrogance, ignorance or deception.

Be Careful

Be Careful who you tell about your experiences, someone who is your friend today, may not be your friend tomorrow. I have seen this happen many times.

Do not state facts, ask them questions, see how they react before discussing esoterics with them. Or even better, find higher level friends.

The Salt Parable

The Salt Parable I was taught went like this:

A salt merchant noticed at the end of the day that his measuring container had been damaged and there was an upwards indentation in the bowl.

So after closing his shop that evening, he went to every house in his village and gave every household 1 free tablespoon of salt so that this blight would not be held against his soul when he died and was judged.

He did this in order to compensate anyone who had purchased salt from him that day.

The Moral

Honesty is without measure but deception is counted in degrees.

The Fox Parable

Parables are "comparable" in many ways to Koans.

One of the most famous is the Fox Koan (parable).

While the main lesson here is about the possibility of coming back (reincarnation) as an animal, the parable lesson - which is often overlooked - is that IF you do not know 101%, do not say "anything".

You only have to look at some of the things people post online to see just how shallow their minds are and then you need to think how much damage they cause others by their inaccurate words.

You can read this Fox Koan / Parable here - is is often referred to as "Hyakujos Fox".

The Moral

Words have consequences.

Walking On Water

There once lived a Guru who had decided to live in isolation and meditate.

The young man who brought him food every day constantly asked the Guru if he would take him as his student.

Finally the Guru agreed and the 2 began meditating together and the student learned many different meditation techniques and Zen concepts.

One day the Guru asked the student what he most wanted in the world?

"I want to learn to walk on water", said the student.

"To do that", said the Guru, "you must go and meditate in isolation for 7 years".

"OK" said the student and off he went.

7 years later the student visited his Guru.

"Have you learned to walk on water yet?" asked the Guru.

"No" said the student.

"Perhaps you need another 7 years of meditation?" said the Guru.

"OK" said the student and off he went.

7 years later the student visited his Guru.

"Have you learned to walk on water yet?" asked the Guru.

"No" said the student.

"Perhaps you need another 7 years of meditation?" said the Guru.

"OK" said the student and off he went.

7 years later the student visited his Guru.

"Have you learned to walk on water yet?" asked the Guru.

"No" said the student.

"Perhaps you need another 7 years of meditation?" said the Guru.

"OK" said the student and off he went.

Finally it was 50 years since the student first left the Guru and he returned smiling and said to his Guru, "Finally I can walk on water, Master - it only took me 50 years".

The Guru looked sadly at his student and said, "What a tragic waste of 50 years".

The Moral

The student was preoccupied with physicality and not spirituality and thus he wasted those 50 years pursuing a useless material benefit at the expense of most of his life when he could have been focused on higher spiritual advancements.

This is because when the student eventually died, walking on water was completely useless to him.

The frog that lives at the bottom of a well thinks it can travel across the ocean.

The Shadow Parable

One sunny day a Master and Student were walking into the local town for supplies.

As per the correct protocol, the Student walked behind his Master.

Suddenly the Student asked, "Master, why do we cast a shadow"?

The Master looked across at his Student and said, "They are to remind us that darkness of evil is always at our heels and we must constantly be striving to overcome this dark shadow of destruction".

They continued on their way into the town, purchased what they needed and started the return journey back to the monastery.

Suddenly the Student asked another question, he said, "Master, why do you not have a shadow"?

The Master smiled and said, "Because I surround myself with supernal light and shadows and darkness cannot hide from this supernal light".

"It has nowhere to exist".

"This is what you must meditate on", said the Master, and the continued on in silence.