... I always found Zen stories amazing because they let somebody find his own personal deep meaning inside them ...

... I always found Zen stories amazing because they let somebody find his own personal deep meaning inside them ...

Panagiotis Boutsikaris Panagiotis Boutsikaris

Panagiotis Boutsikaris

Designing and Building Luxury Country Houses on Contract Basis If the problem seems unressolvable, let me deal with it.

发布日期: 2015年11月9日
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Banishing a Ghost...

 

The wife of a man became very sick. On her deathbed, she said to him, "I love you so much! I don't want to leave you, and I don't want you to betray me. Promise that you will not see any other women once I die, or I will come back to haunt you."

For several months after her death, the husband did avoid other women, but then he met someone and fell in love. On the night that they were engaged to be married, the ghost of his former wife appeared to him. She blamed him for not keeping the promise, and every night thereafter she returned to taunt him. The ghost would remind him of everything that transpired between him and his fiance that day, even to the point of repeating, word for word, their conversations. It upset him so badly that he couldn't sleep at all.

Desperate, he sought the advice of a Zen master who lived near the village. "This is a very clever ghost," the master said upon hearing the man's story. "It is!" replied the man. "She remembers every detail of what I say and do. It knows everything!" The master smiled, "You should admire such a ghost, but I will tell you what to do the next time you see it."

That night the ghost returned. The man responded just as the master had advised. "You are such a wise ghost," the man said, "You know that I can hide nothing from you. If you can answer me one question, I will break off the engagement and remain single for the rest of my life." "Ask your question," the ghost replied. The man scooped up a handful of beans from a large bag on the floor, "Tell me exactly how many beans there are in my hand."

At that moment the ghost disappeared and never returned. 

Gary Rush IAF Certified Professional Facilitator Master

Transforming your workforce by developing collaborative leadership increasing performance 'n engagement | 5X LinkedIn Top Voice - Facilitation, Team Facilitation, Team Management, Team Leadership, Team Building

8 年

Very good.

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Christos Nikolis ????????

Business Intelligence Developer ?? Tableau ?? Qlik Sense ?? Python geek ?? Diversity & Inclusion Ambassador

8 年

That's an amazing story - and with a funny ending! It's like some of the most serious problems in life, finding the problem's sources is key, and sometimes deceptively easy. I was wondering: why did the question with the beans dispel the ghost's presence? The solution I've found is below (WARNING to dear readers: possible SPOILER ALERT to this riddle!! :) ) The story doesn't tell us what would happen if the ghost failed to answer...but since it sounded like a "bet", the ghost should have to leave! (1) The ghost knew that the man would surely keep his promise to stay single, if it answered correctly. (2) The man complimented the ghost, thus inflated the ghost's know-it-all arrogance, then used that arrogance to lure it into accepting a lose-lose trap. (3) The man asked the ghost something he knew it couldn't answer. The repeating pattern in the ghost's taunt was that it was only interested in (and only remembered) whatever "transpired" between her ex-husband and his new fiancee. The beans were not something between the new couple, so the ghost couldn't know it. That is the perfect combo in order to lose a bet: 1) know that your opponent will keep his word and give you your reward, should you win, 2) just be over-confident, and 3) accept to play a seemingly silly game...where you simply have no chance of winning. A final point would be: the ghost would hate answering correctly. It knew the man would stay single and keep his promise. But that would give the ghost no excuse to keep haunting the man. All that "ghosts" want is a pitiful excuse in order to exist and feed upon. And even if the ghost cheated and did not keep the bet's rules, the man was already a winner, because 1) the man had already asked a more experienced specialist for help (many of us fail to ask for help until it's too late) , 2) the man didn't dismiss the Zen master's advice (wise advice is not omnipotent, but has a good chance of working well), 3) he cunningly extracted info and realized the ghost's weakness (the ghost bluffed and didn't know-it-all) ; and most importantly 4) he stood up and faced it with courage. Even real life "ghosts" (meaning our everyday worries) feed upon our fears.. unless we stop believing that we are "victims", and we smile back at the problem with bravery and strategy. I must admit I then googled the answer to this riddle, and I did find a better solution that mine! Dear reader, can you find it? :) What a great post, Mr. Boutsikaris! It really made me ponder, and perhaps made me a bit more tranquil permanently :) Thank you so so much!

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Panagiotis Boutsikaris

Designing and Building Luxury Country Houses on Contract Basis If the problem seems unressolvable, let me deal with it.

9 年

Thank you Gary.

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Gary Rush IAF Certified Professional Facilitator Master

Transforming your workforce by developing collaborative leadership increasing performance 'n engagement | 5X LinkedIn Top Voice - Facilitation, Team Facilitation, Team Management, Team Leadership, Team Building

9 年

Great story.

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Panagiotis Boutsikaris

Designing and Building Luxury Country Houses on Contract Basis If the problem seems unressolvable, let me deal with it.

9 年

I am glad you liked it Carmen.

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