A Zen tale about how things taste when we feel most alive…
The bones of the story:
A man was walking through a forest when he spotted a tiger in the undergrowth. He began to run, the tiger in hot pursuit, until he reached the edge of a steep cliff. With the tiger behind him and nothing but the cliff in front of him, he started to scramble down the cliff, holding onto a vine. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to the base of the cliff, and saw that far from having an escape route, another tiger appeared to be waiting to eat him. The only thing between him and death was the vine. At that moment, he spotted movement above and two mice, one white and one black, crept from a hold in the cliff. Little by little, they started to gnaw away the vine. Just below them, within hand’s reach, the man saw a patch of wild strawberries growing from a clump of earth that clung precariously on the side of the cliff, much in the same way as him. Reaching out, he plucked one. It was plump, and perfectly ripe; warmed by the sunshine. He popped the strawberry into his mouth. It was delicious.
Sources:
- Traditional Zen tale
Classification:
TBC