What is The Meaning of My Life? (Chinese Story)

    There once was a little monk who wanted to know what the meaning of his life was.  So he asked his master, "Master, masterer, can you tell me what the meaning of my life is?"

    He answered in a wise tone, "Go up to the mountain behind our monastery, my boy, find a boulder and bring it to the market.  If someone asks how much the boulder is, don't say anything, just put up two fingers.  If they are still interested, don't sell it, bring it back here and I will tell you the meaning of your life."

    The young monk did as his master said and brought a boulder down to the market.  A while later, an old lady approached him and inquired, "Young man, how much do you want for this boulder?"

    The monk put up two fingers.

    "Two yuan? " She asked. The little monk said nothing. "No? Twenty then. Oh, well, I need it to help me pickle some vegetables." She said.

    The little monk was amazed, "There are so many boulders on our mountain." He took the boulder back, and told his master, "Guess what?  A lady at the market wanted to buy this boulder for twenty yuan!  Now will you please tell me the meaning of my life?"

    The master replied, "Once again take the boulder, then instead, go to the museum and stand besides it.  Do the same thing and return.  Then I shall tell you the meaning of your life."

    The monk took the boulder and placed it in the museum.  He stood besides it like his master had told him to.

    A little later a bearded man came over and said, "Hey you!  Is this boulder for sale?  It seems pretty old.  How much?"

    Once again, the young monk put up two of his fingers.

    "Well, well," the bearded man said, "Now, is that two hundred yuan?  No?  How about two thousand?"

    The monk smiled and shook his head then returned to the monastery.  "Master!" he chirruped excitedly, "Today someone offered two thousand yuan for that bolder! Tell me the meaning of my life now."

    His master chuckled and said, "Now, now, bring this boulder once more, except this time bring it to an antique shop.  Come back and I shall finally tell you the meaning of your life."

    The little monk was off again.  He brought the boulder to an antique shop and set it down.  No later did someone approached him and asked, "Do you know how much this rock is worth? Eh?"

    And so, the monk put up two fingers.

    "So that's two thousand?  Or perhaps twenty thousand yuan?"

    The monk hurried excitedly back to his master.  He said, "Today some thought the boulder was worth twenty thousand!"

    The master nodded his long neck and smiled, "Oh, You see.  Your life is like this boulder, my dear student, the greater you value yourself, the greater you are truly worth."

    The monk remembered this for the rest of his life ...

Berry Sue's Brother and the BELL

(A Chinese tale retold)

There once was a man who loved to take a little something he liked here, and a little something he liked there. He might take a gift card with a decoration he liked while visiting a friend's house, or cut himself a little piece of chocolate cake when there was a birthday party going on in the bowling alley down the street. Anyway, you get the point.

One day he was taking an afternoon walk, strolling around, in the neighborhood and he heard something jingle in the wind.

" Ah... what a nice sound!" he thought.

The man followed the sound and soon came across a house with a bell dangling from a nail right above the door.

"Oh, how beautiful that bell is, and what a melancholy sound it makes!" He said aloud. The man felt eager greediness rise up through his body and sway in his throat.

"I could just take the bell. It is just a little tiny thing! It would be worth it. Right?" the man asked himself. He made up his mind and went home. Not to get ready for dinner, but to get ready for his midnight bell robbery.

At night, the man tiptoed through the stillness of the neighborhood. This night was a perfect night! There was absolutely no wind, unlike the afternoon. He soon found the house he was looking for, the house with the wooden stairs and porch. The man slowly climbed up the stairs to the door and placed his feet gently on top of the welcome mat. The moonlight settled atop the bell and gave it an eerie glow.

Right before he plucked the bell from its nail, he suddenly realized something, "since it is such a silent night, if I take the bell, it ought to make a noise! Then the people in this house will discover me! What am I going to do?"

The man took a while to think. "Ding!" He thought of an idea! The man took out his pocket notebook and ripped two pages out. (by the way, he stole this notebook!) Then he scrunched each entry into a ball. The man stuffed one ball into each ear using his paper inventions as earplugs.

"Now nobody will hear my bell!" He thought, "I can't even hear myself!"

Bliss, the man plucked the bell off of the nail. It jingled very loudly. Not realizing his foolish mistake, the man got caught.

You might think this man's mistake was very obvious, but if you pay attention closely, many of these mistakes happen in the world around you!

THE GIRL and HER SWORD

(A Chinese tale retold)

Once Berry Sue was crossing a river on a nice summer morning. Her boat gently rocked back forth as she rowed her way to the other side of the river.

Soon she had reached the middle of the river. A swarm of mosquitoes flew toward her and started buzzing in front of her face. Annoyed, Berry swiped his hand between the mosquitoes separating them into two groups. Suddenly she lost her balance and almost fell into the water. Unfortunately, while she regained her balance "Cur plunk!" Her precious sword dropped from her belt and fell into the warm water. "My sword! My sword!" she said in panic. "My sword dropped from here "She mumbled while taking out a small pocket knife and making a deep cut on the boat. After she did that, he looked at the cut and made sure that that was where her sword had dropped.

Satisfied with her work, she happily rowed his way to the other bank of the river. when she was at the other side of the river she looked at the mark and jumped into the body of water from the part of the boat she had marked.

The Lost Ax

The Lost Ax
(An old Chinese story)

On a nice morning, Berry Sue came to realize that her ax was missing. She had planned to go to the woods to chop some firewood.

Her neighbor walked outside. "That guy never seems to look at me," Berry Sue thought suspiciously. "He must have stolen my ax, and look how he walks! " The more she thought about it, the more the man looked like an ax thief. Soon she was sure that the man was guilty.

One day Berry was sorting out her tools, and spotted a sharp shiny thing. It was his long lost ax!!! Now whenever she saw her neighbor her neighbor looked normal. He walked normally, talked normally, and looked at her normally.