Thoughts on Sacred Stories & 2 Old Zen Tales

Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones." Benjamin Disraeli

I woke up yesterday morning with a most unusual thought, unusual as it was new. I am the only left who holds our sacred family stories. It made me think of indigenous people where stories and the right to tell them. We have no such known tradition in my nuclear family which are all deceased as are grandparents on both sides. And, I have some distant cousins out there that I'm not in contact with. I have no way of knowing how much or how little of our family history or stories they carry. Still it feels like both poignant and potent thought. And doesn't anyone I've ever talked with hold a piece of my story even those whose paths I've crossed in silent are a part of me as I am of them. I will think on this more, feeling tumble around, snippets of family incidents flash in and out. I dismiss some as unimportant, yet again come to conclusion they are part of me. Some I will share here as I have shared in conversations over the years wondering if the details still match that old reality. Now, I want to share two Zen stories I get get pleasure from each time they appear.

From the website Zen Stories To Tell Your Neighbor:

Knowing Fish

One day Chuang Tzu and a friend were walking by a river. "Look at the fish swimming about," said Chuang Tzu, "They are really enjoying themselves."

"You are not a fish," replied the friend, "So you can't truly know that they are enjoying themselves."

"You are not me," said Chuang Tzu. "So how do you know that I do not know that the fish are enjoying themselves?"

Obsessed

Two traveling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed.

As the monks continued on their way, the one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. "Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!"

"Brother," the second monk replied, "I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her."

It's great the way inklings of truth can slide right in with a story.