A Zen Short

Monday, June 25, 2007

The Farmer's Luck
There was once an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day, his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.

"Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. "Maybe," the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it two other wild horses.

"Such good luck!" the neighbors exclaimed. "Maybe," replied the farmer.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown off, and broke his leg.

Again, the neighbors came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "Such bad luck," they said. "Maybe," answered the farmer.

The day after that, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army to fight in the war. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by.

"Such good luck!" cried the neighbors. "Maybe," said the farmer.

***
Aimee's commentary: Sometimes when the course of our live seems to be just bad luck, maybe things are happening exactly as they are supposed to.

Well, maybe....

2 Comments:

Kristin said...

Ha! What a great thought! Is this a book of many zen shorts or just one zen short?

Aimee said...

It has about 3 shorts. I've shared 2 already.

I love the messages though.

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