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 a 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 was waiting
to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.
Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started
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!
~ Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki
from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
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