Friday, June 13, 2008

What's the difference between heaven and hell?


A Visit to Heaven and Hell

I once heard a story about a visit to heaven and hell. In bothplaces the visitor saw many people seated at a table on whichmany delicious foods were laid out. In both places chopsticks over a meter long were tied to their right hands, while their left hands weretied to their chairs.

In hell, however much they stretched out theirarms, the chopsticks were too long for them to get food into theirmouths. They grew impatient and got their hands andchopsticks tangled with one another's. The delicacies werescattered here and there.

In heaven, on the other hand, people happily used the longchopsticks to pick out someone else's favorite food and feed it tohim, and in turn they were being fed by others. They all enjoyedtheir meal in harmony.


--Shundo Aoyama, Zen Seeds

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