Issue nº 123

Small stories

In the tavern
     Rabbi Wolf entered a bar by chance. Some people were drinking, others were playing cards, and the atmosphere seemed heavy. The rabbi left without saying a word.
      A young man followed him out: “I know that you didn’t like what you saw in there,” he said. “That’s a place for sinners.”
     “No, I liked what I saw,” Wolf answered. “Those are men learning to lose everything. When they have lived the experience of losing, all that will remain is for them is to return to God. And from that moment on, what excellent servants they will make!”

Ten percent
     “To be like me is very simple,” said the richest man in Babylonia. “All you have to understand is that a tenth of what you earn is yours.”
     “That makes no sense,” answered the young man. “All that I earn is mine.”
     “Don’t you pay the tailor? Don’t you pay the baker every day? You can’t live even for a day without spending. You pay everybody except yourself. From now on, pay yourself a tenth of your salary. Don’t forget that the paths of wealth are magical and strange; if you take good care of that tenth, one day it will reward all your efforts.”

Beyond the port
     A hermit from the monastery of Sceta came up to Abbot Theodore:
     “I know exactly what the objective of life is. I know what God asks of man, and I know the best way to serve Him. And even so, I am unable to do all that I should be doing to serve the Lord.”
     “You know that there exists a city on the other side of the ocean,” replied Theodore. “But you haven’t found the ship yet, you still haven't packed your bags on board, and you haven’t crossed the sea. Why keep talking about what it is like and how we should walk down the streets? Put into practice what you’re saying and the path will reveal itself to you.”

At heaven’s door
     When Don Enrique died he went straight to heaven. He knocked hard on the door and a voice asked: “Who’s there?”
     “It’s Don Enrique Fernandez of Valdivieso.”
     “Well go away, there’s no room here for two,” said the voice. And so Don Enrique was sent to Purgatory. Some time later, he very timidly returned to heaven.
     “Who is it?” asked the voice. “It’s me,” answered Don Enrique.
     “There’s no room here for two,” repeated the voice.
     Don Enrique went back to Purgatory. One day he went back to knock on heaven’s door.
     “Who is it?” asked the voice. “A small part of God,” he answered.
      And heaven’s door opened to him.

Rigor and compassion
     In the heart of winter the samurai presented himself to the Zen master.
     “I am dying of cold and hunger and I have no way of supporting myself.”
      Filled with pity, the master went to the statue of Yakushi-Buda, removed the gold chain that adorned the neck and handed it to the samurai.
     The other pupils complained: "sacrilege!"
     "Why sacrilege?" asked the master. "You have heard tell of David, who ate the bread from the tabernacle when he was hungry. Christ cured on the Sabbath whenever that was necessary. All I did was put the spirit of Buddha into action: now love and compassion can do their work."

Wrong questions
     What is wisdom
      A Sufi story tells us of a man who lived in Turkey who heard of a great master who lived in Persia who held the secret of wisdom.
      Without hesitating, he sold his things, took leave of his family and went off in search of this secret. After years of traveling he managed to arrive at a cabin where the great master lived. Filled with awe, he drew closer and waited for the wise man to return from his morning stroll.
     “I come from Turkey,” he said as soon as the wise man turned up. “I have made this long journey just to ask one question.”
     “That’s fine. You can ask just one question.”
     “I have to be clear in what I am going to ask; may I ask you in Turkish?”
     “You may, “ said the wise man. “And I have already asked your only question. Anything else you want to know, you ask your heart. You don’t have to travel so far to discover that it is the best counselor of all.”
      And he shut the door.

Why God did not help us
     Master and disciple are walking through the deserts of Arabia. The Master uses each moment of the journey to teach his disciple about faith.
     “Entrust your things to God,” he said. “Because He never abandons His children.”
     When they camped down at night, the Master asked the disciple to tie the horses to a nearby rock. The disciple went over to the rock, but then remembered what he had learned that afternoon. “The Master must be testing me. The truth is that I should entrust the horses to God." And he left the horses loose.
      In the morning he discovered that the animals had run off. Indignant, he sought out the Master.
     “You know nothing about God! Yesterday I learned that I should trust blindly in Providence, so I gave the horses to Him to guard, and the animals have disappeared!”
     “God wanted to look after the horses,” answered the Master. “But at that moment he needed your hands to tie them up and you did not lend them to Him.”

It’s raining and can I go out?
     An old Buddhist story goes like this: a man is passing through a village under a heavy storm when all of a sudden he sees a house catching fire. Drawing closer, he sees another man – (the fable uses the beautiful image "with fire to the eyelashes ") – crying in his direction: “Is it raining?”
     The traveler is surprised.
     “Your house is catching fire!” he says.
     “I need to know if it’s raining or not. My mother told me that the rain can give us pneumonia.”
     Zao Chi comments on the fable: "wise is the man who manages to change the situation when he is forced to do so. Foolish is the man who does not trust the hand of God, only the answers of his fellow humans."

What is the first step?
     A man decided to visit a hermit who lived near the monastery of Sceta.
     “What is the first step of one who aims to follow the spiritual path?” he asked.
      The hermit took him to a well and asked him to look at his reflection in the water. The man obeyed, but the hermit began to throw small stones, making ripples on the surface.
     “I won’t be able to see my face right if you keep throwing stones.”
     “Just as it is impossible to see your face in troubled waters, so it is impossible to seek God if your mind is anxious about the search,” said the monk. “Don’t ask questions, just move forward with faith. This will always be the first and most important step of all.