Monday, February 9, 2009

I know what my next tattoos will be

There is a Buddhist tale (koan?) of the person walking along the beach. this person comes upon a monk picking up starfish and throwing them back into the ocean. The person asks the monk "there are millions of starfish on this beach you can't make a difference." The monk picks up a starfish, throws it into the sea and says, "it mattered to that one."

A young woman, it is told, is walking through a field when she encounters a tiger that eyes herhungrily. She runs and the tiger pursues her. She comes to a cliff, takes hold of the root of awild vine and, in a single motion, swings herself over the precipice. Dangling there, clutching thevine, she sees the tiger sniffing the ground above her. Trembling, she looks down. It is a long wayto the bottom, and she feels momentarily dizzy. Then she , sees something else. There is anothertiger below, presumably a hungry one, who has also noticed her plight. The tigers prowl, one aboveand one below; waiting for their feast. She clings to the vine. Suddenly; two mice appear at theedge of the cliff and start to gnaw at the roots that hold her. The woman notices a wildstrawberry growing nearby on the side of the hill. She reaches with one hand to pluck thestrawberry, still clutching the vine with the other, and places the fruit in her mouth. She takesone bite. Ahhhh! How sweet it tastes.

So my next tattoos will be of starfish and strawberries

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