what does this mean?

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Nissan_Racer

Nissan_Racer

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i was wondering what you people think this means? i just would like to know.


-One evening as Shichiri Kojun was reciting sutras a thief with a sharp sword entered, demanding either money or his life.

Shichiri told him: "Do not disturb me. You can find the money in that drawer." Then he resumed his recitation.

A little while afterwards he stopped and called: "Don't take it all. I need some to pay taxes with tomorrow."

The intruder gathered up most of the money and started to leave. "Thank a person when you receive a gift," Shichiri added. The man thanked him and made off.

A few days afterwards the fellow was caught and confessed, among others, the offence against Shichiri. When Shichiri was called as a witness he said: "This man is no thief, at least as far as I am concerned. I gave him money and he thanked me for it."

After he had finished his prison term, the man went to Shichiri and became his disciple.
 
that's very similar to an occurrance in the play "Les Miserables" in which Jon val Jon (or whatever his name is) was caught stealing the gold candles and stuff from the church and the friar comes in before the police can take him away and tells them that he was only taking what the friar had permitted him to take. Jon val Jon was set free, and became a Christian.
Personally, I don't know what it means...
 
my guess would be that in both casses the criminal saw that the people that they had "robbed" had somthing in them and didn't care about worldly possessions and so they wanted to have what the others had... but thats just my guess
 
A buddhist should not cling to items in the material world. That's not to say you can't have anything, but you should be prepared to live without these things ant any point in time, as if they may never appear. This is how you live and contemplate life to it's fullest...carpe diem.

The thief took money, had the decency to give back part of it on another's word, and followed the word of the monk. The monk took pity on him, and probably helped lessen his sentence.

Wisdom and compassion are the two primary things a Buddhist (or pretty much anyone, in my opinion) should equally maintain in this world.
 
what about this???


One night, as a great saint lay prostrate on a village road, a thief came upon him. The thief observed a long, gray haired, form lying on the ground and came closer to observe and investigate. In moments, he arrived at the conclusion that this person robbed some house in the neighborhood and ran and ran as fast as he could until, out of sheer exhaustion, he fell flat on his face to the ground. The thief, thinking that the police may arrive at any moment, decided to run away.

A while later a drunken man staggered along and upon observing the saint prostrate on the ground thought of the motionless form, "I wonder who this person is camping here in the middle of the night. Alas you had a sip too many and your legs became watery. At least I can walk and not stumble like you." and he wobbled along his merry way.

Soon a sage comes walking by and observed the calm, serene posture of the great saint in deep meditation lying on the ground. The sage, while massaging the feet of the great saint remarked " Here you lie on a dusty roadside, but your heart is pure and full of love for God. Hari OM!!"

An owl observing these vignettes, remarked, "And so is he, for we see in others, what we are ourselves."
 
Originally posted by Nissan_Racer
An owl observing these vignettes, remarked, "And so is he, for we see in others, what we are ourselves."
Click to expand...
I think you answered your own riddle.
 

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