The Tiger and the Strawberry

A ancient Zen story ripe for 2020.

Once upon a time, as a man was walking through a forest, he saw a tiger peering out at him from the underbrush. As the man turned to run, he heard the tiger spring after him to give chase.

Barely ahead of the tiger, running for his life, our hero came to the edge of a steep cliff. Clinging onto a strong vine, the man climbed over the cliff edge just as the tiger was about to pounce.

Hanging over the side of the cliff, with the hungry tiger pacing above him, the man looked down and was dismayed to see another tiger, stalking the ravine far below. Just then, a tiny mouse darted out from a crack in the cliff face above him and began to gnaw at the vine.

At that precise moment, the man noticed a patch of wild strawberries growing from a clump of earth near where he dangled. Reaching out, he plucked one. It was plump, and perfectly ripe; warmed by the sunshine.

He popped the strawberry into his mouth. It was perfectly delicious. The End.

Now, most of us don’t like this story. Indeed, even devout students of Zen Buddhism struggle with this teaching and its meaning.

Most particularly in societies heavily influenced by Hollywood, modern tastes generally run more toward the happy ending. We want the mouse to speak, perhaps offer to save the man in some magical bargain. We want the strawberry to transform the man into a bird who flies away to safety.

Of course, that’s all nonsense. Fairy tales that can’t help us in 2020.

But most of all, we just can’t stand the ending of, “The Tiger and the Strawberry.” The most burning question is left unanswered, dangling: What happens to the man?

Except, we already know what happens to the man. Of course we do.

He dies.

That he dies relishing his last moments on earth is one of the possible morals of the story, if indeed Zen Buddhist Koans can be said to have anything as straightforward or…

Related posts:

Any web app must allow users to build a profile, you dont want thsi data clogging up your user model, so we split this off into its own model, to do so lets look at ways we could achieve this. We…

Some people are reluctant to install an antivirus for a very simple reason: it slows down the computer . Especially when the computer is turned on, it usually takes much longer to start up; but also…

There is no sword as sharp as silence The serrated blade twists Inches from my heart And will not let me let go Gretchen Lee Bourquin obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Literature/Creative Writing in…