Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The Parable of Ernie and Bert
I was feeling more depressed after class today than I've been since I've gotten to Bilbao (I really need to start being able to express myself more and stop being so hard on myself - I hardly know who I am anymore!)... and well, I thought I'd come home and do something silly to cheer myself up a little... so I decided to google something obscure in quotation marks in the hopes of finding something funny to read... and instead, I found a blog full of zen quotes, and little things that can be related to Buddhist thought. Let go, fon, let go. (p.s. I googled "where is the cow?")
The parable of Ernie and Bert and the painting of the cow eating grass
8. Ernie and Bert were at home. Ernie was standing before a blank canvas wearing a smock and a beret and holding a palette and a paintbrush, as though painting. 9. Bert approached Ernie and asked Ernie what he was doing. 10. "I am finishing a painting," he replied. 11. "But what have you painted? I see nothing," said Bert. 12. Said Ernie: "It is a picture of a cow eating grass." 13. "Where is the grass?" asked Bert, pointing at the blank white canvas, 14. to which replied Ernie, "The cow ate it." 15. "And where is the cow?" asked Bert. To which Ernie replied 16. "Why would the cow hang around if there is no more grass?"
Sesame 6:8-16
Two Monks
Two monks were walking down the street after a heavy rain that left the streets quite muddy. They came upon a a lady of very easy virtue vainly attempting to find a dry path across the road without soiling her kimono.
One monk, more compassionate than the other, picked up the woman and carried her across the street, setting her down on the other side of the road. He returned to his companion and they continued down the road for some minutes until the second monk chided the first with the remark, "You really shouldn't have done that."
"Done what?"
"Why, you contaminated yourself by touching that impure woman."
"Oh, are you still carrying her? I put her down on the other side of the street."
fon @ 10:58 PM link to post * *