PZI Teacher Archives
The Strawberry
KOAN:
You are walking in the hills for exercise when you are chased by a mountain lion. At the edge of a cliff you jump over and grab on to a vine. It is far to the bottom and when you look down you see that a grizzly bear is there, looking up. Above you a white mouse and a black mouse appear from the cliff side and begin to eat away at the vine. Your eye lights on a red strawberry. You pick it, you eat it. It is delicious.
What Are the Practices of Gratitude?
“Gratitude is something that I haven’t planned on—either to receive or to give—it takes me by surprise. It arrives out of nowhere. It’s the part of happiness that is beyond selfishness. My gratitude doesn’t have a lot of discrimination, and I like that.”