1. Socrates And the Marketplace
True philosopher that he, as, Socrates believed that the wise person would instinctively lead a frugal life. He himself would not even wear shoes; yet he fell under the spell of the marketplace and would go there often to look at all the wares on display.
When one of his friends asked why, Socrates said: "I love to go there and discover how many things I am perfectly happy without."
2. True Satisfaction.
A Quaker had this sign put on a vacant piece of land next to his home: "THIS LAND WILL BE GIVEN TO ANYONE WHO IS TRULY SATISFIED."
A wealthy farmer who was riding by, stopped to read the sign and said to himself, "Since our friend the Quaker is so ready to part with this plot, I might as well claim it before someone else does. I am a rich man and have all I need, so I certainly qualify."
With that he went up to the door and explained what he was there for. "And art thou truly satisfied?" the Quaker asked.
"I am, indeed, for I have everything I need."
"Friends," said the Quaker, "if thou art satisfied, what dost thou want the land for?"
3. BUDDHA Threatened By Death.
Buddha was once threatened with death by a bandit called Angulimal.
"Then be good enough to fulfill my dying wish," said Buddha. "Cut off the branch of that tree."
One slash of the sword, and it was done! "What now?" asked the bandit.
Put it back again," said Buddha.
The bandit laughed. "You must be crazy to think anyone can do that."
"On the contrary, it is you who are crazy to think that you are mighty because you can wound and destroy. That is the task of children. The mighty know how to create and heal."
4. A Miser’s Death
A miser had accumulated five hundred thousand dinars and looked forward to a year of pleasant living before he made up his mind how best to invest his money, when suddenly the Angel of Death appeared before him to take his life away.
The man begged and pleaded and used a thousand arguments to be allowed to live a little longer, but the angel was obdurate. "Give me three days of life and I shall give you half my fortune," the man pleaded. The angel wouldn't hear of it and began to tug at him.
"Give me just one day, I beg of you, and you can have everything I accumlated through so much sweat and toil."
The angel was adamant still.
He was able to wring just one little concession from the angel.A few moments in which to write down this note:
"Oh you, whoever you are that happen to find this note, if you have enough to live on, don't waste your life accumulating fortunes. Live!
My five hundred thousand dinars could not buy me a single hour of life!"
5. A Damned Devotee.
The devotee knelt to be initiated into discipleship. The guru whispered the sacred mantra into his ear, warning him not to reveal it to anyone.
"What will happen if I do?" asked the devotee.
Said the guru, "Anyone you reveal the mantra to will be liberated from the bondage of ignorance and suffering, but you yourself will be excluded from discipleship and suffer damnation."
No sooner had he heard those words, than the devotee rushed to the marketplace, collected a large crowd around him, and repeated the sacred mantra for all to hear.
The disciples later reported this to the guru and demanded that the man be expelled from the monastery for his disobedience.
The guru smiled and said, "He has no need of anything I can teach. His action has shown him to be a guru in his own right."
6. Going to Heaven.
A priest walked into a pub, indignant to find so many of his parishioners there. He rounded them up and shepherded them into the church.
The he solemnly said, "All those who want to go to heaven, step over here to the left." Everyone stepped over except one man, who stubbornly stood his ground.
The priest looked at him firecely and said, "Don't you want to go to heaven?"
"No," said the man.
"Do you mean to stand there and tell me you don't want to go to heaven when you die?"
"Of course I want to go to heaven when I die. I thought you were going now!"
7. Nagarjuna and Thief
The great Buddhist saint Nagarjuna moved around naked except for a loincloth and, incongruously, a golden begging bowl gifted to him by the King, who was his disciple.
One night he was about to lie down to sleep among the ruins of an ancient monastery when he noticed a thief lurking behind one of the columns. "Here, take this," said Nagarjuna, holding the begging bowl. "That way you won't disturb me once I have fallen asleep."
The thief eagerly grabbed the bowl and made off, only to return the next morning with the bowl and a request:
"When you gave away this bowl so freely last night, you made me feel very poor. Teach me how to acquire the riches that make this kind of lighthearted detachment possible."
8. Nonoko and Thief
There was an old Zen master called Nonoko who lived alone in a hut at the foot of a mountain. One night while Nonoko was sitting in meditation, a stranger broke into the hut and, brandishing a sword, demanded Nonoko's money.
Nonoko did not interrupt his meditation while he addressed the man:
"All my money is in a bowl on the shelf up there. Take all you need, but leave me five yen. I have to pay my taxes next week."
The stranger emptied the bowl of all the money it held and threw five yen back into it. He also helped himself to a precious vase he found on the shelf.
"Carry that vase with care," said Nonoko. "It will crack easily."
The stranger looked around the small barren room once more and was going to leave.
"You haven't said thank you," said Nonoko.
The man said thank you and left. The next day the whole village was in turmoil. Many people claimed they had been robbed. Someone noticed the vase missing from the shelf in Nonoko's hut and asked if he, too, had been the victim of the burglar.
"Oh, no," said Nonoko. "I gave the vase to a stranger, along with some money. He thanked me and left. He was a pleasant enough sort of fellow, but a bit careless with his sword!"
9. Sufi and the Inn
Sufi of forbidding appearance arrived at the doors of the palace. No one dared to stop him as he made his way right up to the throne on which the saintly Ibrahim ben Adam sat.
"What is it you want?" asked the King.
"A place to sleep in this inn."
"This is no inn. This is my palace."
"May I ask who owned this place before you?"
"My father. He is dead."
"And who owned it before him?"
"My grandfather. He is dead too."
"And this place where people lodge for a brief while and move on—did I hear you say it was not an inn?"
10. Heart of a Mouse.
A mouse was in constant distress because of its fear of the cat. A magician took pity on it and turned it into a cat. But then it became afraid of the dog.
So the magician turned it into a dog. Then it began to fear the panther, so the magician turned it into a panther. Whereupon it was full of fear for the hunter.
At this point, the magician gave up. He turned it into a mouse again saying, "Nothing I do for you is going to be of any help because you have the heart of a mouse."
11. Only a Visitor
In the last century, a tourist from the States visited the famous Polish rabbi Hafez Hayyim. He was astonished to see that the rabbi's home was only a simple room filled with books. The only furniture was a table and a bench.
"Rabbi, where is your furniture?" asked the tourist.
"Where is yours?" replied Hafez.
"Mine? But I'm only a visitor here."
"So am I," said the rabbi.
12. Realism.
A gambler once said to the Master, "I was caught cheating at cards yesterday, so my partners beat me up and threw me out of the window. What would you advise me to do?"
The Master looked straight through the man and said, "If I were you, from now on I would play on the ground floor."
This startled the disciples. "Why didn't you tell him to stop gambling?" they demanded.
"Because I knew he wouldn't," was the Master's simple and sagacious explanation.
13. Hyena and Monkey.
A monkey and a hyena were walking through the forest when he hyena said, "Each time I pass by those bushes there, a lion jumps out of them and mauls me. I don't know why."
"I'll walk with you this time," said the monkey, "and side with you against the lion."
So they started to walk past the bushes when the lion pounced on the hyena and nearly mauled it to death. Meanwhile, the monkey watched the proceedings from the safety of a tree that he had run up the moment the lion appeared.
"Why didn't you do something to help me?" moaned the hyena.
Said the monkey, "You were laughing so much I thought you were winning."
14. MOTION.
To the disciples who were always asking for words of wisdom the Master said, "Wisdom is not expressed in words. It reveals itself in action."
But when he saw them plunge headlong into activity, he laughed and said, "That isn't action. That's motion."
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http://www.spiritual-short-stories.com/spiritual-short-story
posted with courtesy and gratitude
When one of his friends asked why, Socrates said: "I love to go there and discover how many things I am perfectly happy without."
A wealthy farmer who was riding by, stopped to read the sign and said to himself, "Since our friend the Quaker is so ready to part with this plot, I might as well claim it before someone else does. I am a rich man and have all I need, so I certainly qualify."
With that he went up to the door and explained what he was there for. "And art thou truly satisfied?" the Quaker asked.
"I am, indeed, for I have everything I need."
"Friends," said the Quaker, "if thou art satisfied, what dost thou want the land for?"
"Then be good enough to fulfill my dying wish," said Buddha. "Cut off the branch of that tree."
One slash of the sword, and it was done! "What now?" asked the bandit.
Put it back again," said Buddha.
The bandit laughed. "You must be crazy to think anyone can do that."
"On the contrary, it is you who are crazy to think that you are mighty because you can wound and destroy. That is the task of children. The mighty know how to create and heal."
The man begged and pleaded and used a thousand arguments to be allowed to live a little longer, but the angel was obdurate. "Give me three days of life and I shall give you half my fortune," the man pleaded. The angel wouldn't hear of it and began to tug at him.
"Give me just one day, I beg of you, and you can have everything I accumlated through so much sweat and toil."
The angel was adamant still.
He was able to wring just one little concession from the angel.A few moments in which to write down this note:
My five hundred thousand dinars could not buy me a single hour of life!"
"What will happen if I do?" asked the devotee.
Said the guru, "Anyone you reveal the mantra to will be liberated from the bondage of ignorance and suffering, but you yourself will be excluded from discipleship and suffer damnation."
No sooner had he heard those words, than the devotee rushed to the marketplace, collected a large crowd around him, and repeated the sacred mantra for all to hear.
The disciples later reported this to the guru and demanded that the man be expelled from the monastery for his disobedience.
The guru smiled and said, "He has no need of anything I can teach. His action has shown him to be a guru in his own right."
The he solemnly said, "All those who want to go to heaven, step over here to the left." Everyone stepped over except one man, who stubbornly stood his ground.
The priest looked at him firecely and said, "Don't you want to go to heaven?"
"No," said the man.
"Do you mean to stand there and tell me you don't want to go to heaven when you die?"
"Of course I want to go to heaven when I die. I thought you were going now!"
One night he was about to lie down to sleep among the ruins of an ancient monastery when he noticed a thief lurking behind one of the columns. "Here, take this," said Nagarjuna, holding the begging bowl. "That way you won't disturb me once I have fallen asleep."
The thief eagerly grabbed the bowl and made off, only to return the next morning with the bowl and a request:
Nonoko did not interrupt his meditation while he addressed the man:
"All my money is in a bowl on the shelf up there. Take all you need, but leave me five yen. I have to pay my taxes next week."
The stranger emptied the bowl of all the money it held and threw five yen back into it. He also helped himself to a precious vase he found on the shelf.
"Carry that vase with care," said Nonoko. "It will crack easily."
The stranger looked around the small barren room once more and was going to leave.
"You haven't said thank you," said Nonoko.
The man said thank you and left. The next day the whole village was in turmoil. Many people claimed they had been robbed. Someone noticed the vase missing from the shelf in Nonoko's hut and asked if he, too, had been the victim of the burglar.
"Oh, no," said Nonoko. "I gave the vase to a stranger, along with some money. He thanked me and left. He was a pleasant enough sort of fellow, but a bit careless with his sword!"
"What is it you want?" asked the King.
"A place to sleep in this inn."
"This is no inn. This is my palace."
"May I ask who owned this place before you?"
"My father. He is dead."
"And who owned it before him?"
"My grandfather. He is dead too."
"And this place where people lodge for a brief while and move on—did I hear you say it was not an inn?"
So the magician turned it into a dog. Then it began to fear the panther, so the magician turned it into a panther. Whereupon it was full of fear for the hunter.
At this point, the magician gave up. He turned it into a mouse again saying, "Nothing I do for you is going to be of any help because you have the heart of a mouse."
"Rabbi, where is your furniture?" asked the tourist.
"Where is yours?" replied Hafez.
"Mine? But I'm only a visitor here."
"So am I," said the rabbi.
The Master looked straight through the man and said, "If I were you, from now on I would play on the ground floor."
This startled the disciples. "Why didn't you tell him to stop gambling?" they demanded.
"Because I knew he wouldn't," was the Master's simple and sagacious explanation.
"I'll walk with you this time," said the monkey, "and side with you against the lion."
So they started to walk past the bushes when the lion pounced on the hyena and nearly mauled it to death. Meanwhile, the monkey watched the proceedings from the safety of a tree that he had run up the moment the lion appeared.
"Why didn't you do something to help me?" moaned the hyena.
Said the monkey, "You were laughing so much I thought you were winning."
But when he saw them plunge headlong into activity, he laughed and said, "That isn't action. That's motion."
great stories, nice to read :)
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