From CharlesT@localaccess.com Sun Feb 11 15:16:22 1996
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To: sdanet@jill.sdanet.org
Subject: Parables from Other Cultures
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 96 12:14:51 PSTP+0000
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        Parables from non-Christian Cultures with Messages

[told by Dr. Bruce Johanson of WWC at a recent week-end seminar in Chehalis WA]:

A sage once spake a parable to one of his disciples. The disciple did not
get the meaning of the parable, so he asked the master to explain it to him.
Said the master, "Not only do I supply you with food, but must I chew it for
you?

A very experienced Amazon explorer made a map of that mighty river. Many
people bought it and kept it well displayed and felt that they knew the
Amazon well, every crook and turn, every rapids and sandbar. [But having the
map is not enough; to really know it, you must experience it--The Bible, for
example!]

A Sufi parable: They had a dead man who was placed in a coffin. He pushed up
the lid and sat up. The priests & physicians certified that he was indeed
dead, so they pushed him back in and buried him. [Experts are not always right!]

A villager came to the sunyasee [sp?] and asked for a gift. He was given a
"stone". He took it home and examined it; it was a huge diamond! He went
back to the sunyasee and asked for another gift: this time he was specific:
"Please give me the wealth that makes it possible for you to give away such
wealth!" 

A Buddhist story: Two monks were standing by a river and a beautiful woman
came along and wanted to get across the river but was afraid. One monk took
her on his back and carried her across. The other monk was extremely irate,
and went to great lengths to berate the first monk, telling him how terrible
it was to break his vow to even touch or be touched by a woman. Finally the
fists monk was able to answer: "Brother, I dropped her at the riverside; how
come you are still carrying her?"

An Islamic story: A barber was tending to a wealthy customer when a poor but
holy man who badly needed a shave approached him. The barber immediately
left the rich man and shaved the holy man and gave some alms. Later the holy
man returned and tried to give the barber a bag of gold coins. Said the
indignant barber, "What kind of holy man are you who would reward me for an
act of love?"

Another Buddhist story: A female monk [they do have them in Burma and in
some other places] went through the town with her food bowl, as monks do, to
get offerings of food. One shopkeeper was sometimes lewd to her. So when she
went there one day she carried an umbrella. When the shopkeeper behaved
unseemingly, she lifted her furled umbrella and he ran, she giving chase.
Then she saw that her superior was watching, and she was ashamed and
expected a rebuke. But said he, "Whack him over the head!" 

A story from China, I think: Said one holy man to another: "I can stand on
one side of a river and stretch out my hand and write on a slate on the
other side of the river without crossing it myself."  The second holy man,
of a humbler nature, replied, "I can only do little miracles eat, drink, and
forgive."

The last story was told by Dr. M. E. Cherian when he was president of Spicer
College when Bruce was on the staff there [Dr. Cherian is presently serving
as president of the Southern Asia Division]: It was Devali time, a festival
of lights, with little clay lamps and cotton wicks decorating buildings from
floor to roof and around. A wealthy but childless man set out his lamps
sadly. He had many, many such lamps and his place of residence shone
brightly. Then he remembered his cousin, a very poor man but one with many
children. They had no money clay lamps and oil to light their humble abode
for Divali. The rich man took a large bag of rice and went across to the
home of the poor man and his family. But on his way with the load of rice,
he met his poor cousin coming to his big house, and they met half way
between. The poor man, filled with pity for his rich but childless cousin
and was taking him a gift: his youngest son. At the place where these two
gift-laden cousins met, a beautiful temple miraculously sprang up.
Charles H. Tidwell, Sr                      charlest@localaccess.com
Chehalis WA 98532, USA                      Phone/Fax: (360) 748 6011
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               Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.