another Zen story…

Once there was a person who wanted to relocate to a new village. Wondering if he’d like his new town, he went to consult the Zen master, “Do you think I will like this new village? Are the people nice?”

The Zen master asks: “How were the people in the town where you come from?”

“It was dreadful. They were nasty, angry, and greedy,” said the newcomer. “I hated it.”

The Zen master says: “Those are exactly the type of people we have in this village. ”

Another newcomer to the village visited the master and asked the same question.

Again, the Zen master asked, “How were the people in the town where you come from?”

“Respectful and caring, they are wonderful people who live in harmony with each other,” he replied.

“Those are exactly the type of people we have in this village,” said the Zen master.

And the message is..?

I think you know! 

And, what if the two men came from the same town?

(see * below!)

 

Maybe the easiest way to improve our life is to change our perspective.

And just maybe it should be the first thing we try!

Has it ever worked that way for you?

(*Short and humorous, Zen stories are typically paradoxical, whimsical and sometimes puzzling. Yet they never fail to help us reframe our perspective and free us from the distortion of perceptions arising from judgment, beliefs, and attachment. Ultimately the distinction between good or bad, right or wrong is often just a matter of contextual perspective.)