"A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him."Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a lucious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!"
Paul Reps, Editor, Zen Flesh Zen Bones, Tuttle.
Now that's living in the moment!
Why do you suppose the writer chose to make one mouse white and one black?
Nicklaus Suino teaches iaido and other martial arts at seminars throughout North America. Information about his seminars can be found at www.artofjapaneseswordsmanship.com. He teacher iaido, judo, and jujutsu at the Japanese Martial Arts Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the University of Michigan.
1 comment:
this is too funny, the picture is one that I took with someone else's camera when sitting out on the last iaido session. At least something good came out of my idleness. Don't mean to bag but it is a great pic isn't it?
the bodies of the mice, curved around the vine, remind me of the shape of the yin and yang. still, i am not sure what significance they play in the story.
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