Tigers, Mice, and Strawberries - Oh My!
A Parable
- Zen Flesh, Zen Bones #18
Buddha told a parable in a sutra:
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 waited to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.
Then two mice, one white and one black, began little by little to gnaw away the vine.
The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other.
How sweet it tasted.
This is another favorite koan of mine. It feels fairly straightforward. What do you do when you're stuck somewhere and can't escape? There are times where we are in a no-win situation. We can't always be Captain Kirk when he was confronted with the Kobayashi Maru, where he changed the rules of the game.
As much as I aspire to not be in a no-win situation, life can be like that, even in small ways. The Parable above, shows that life is fleeting. Time, like the mice, nibbles at us. So what do we do? We make the most of it. We eat the strawberries.
One of the outcomes of my [depression] journey is that I work hard to find joy when I can. What the Army used to call "hunt the good stuff" in their Master Resilience Training (MRT). When I was at basic training or when I deployed, there was often very little I could do to change my circumstances. So I found the joy in sun on my back while eating an MRE. Or enjoying the beach, even if I missed my son deeply.
Finding the joy is what keeps me going. It allows me to enjoy the shitty times more and focus on what I CAN control. It's made me healthier, and I like to think, sets a good example for my son. It's even shaped how I approach other people's problems. I'm not ignoring the bad, I'm looking for the good. Because without the good, what's the point?
Eat the strawberries, enjoy the sun, and hug your loved ones. Life can be hard. Might as well enjoy what's in reach.