Zacharia Pendleton

"You know how people say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well I've seen the nearly killed and that just couldn't be more wronger."
A Sufi Parable:
Once upon a time there was a young man called, Aurangzeb. He used to roam around from town to town selling hats for a living. One day he would be in Bangalore and the next day people would find him in Mysore.
One summer afternoon, Aurangzeb had just traveled across a vast plain, so he felt tired and wanted to take a nap in the jungle. He found a mango tree with lots of branches and cool shade. Placing his bag of hats beside him, he went to sleep.
Aurangzeb was fast asleep in no time. When he woke up after a refreshing nap, he found that there were no hats in his bag! "Oh, no!" he said to himself and shook his head sadly, "Of all the people, why did the thieves have to rob me?"
Suddenly, he looked up and noticed that the mango tree was full of cute monkeys wearing colorful hats. He yelled at the monkeys and they screamed back. He made faces at them and they returned the same funny faces. He threw a stone at them and they showered him with raw mangoes.
"Oh gosh, how do I get my hats back?" Aurangzeb pondered. Frustrated, he took off his own hat and threw it on the ground. To his surprise, the monkeys threw their hats also! Aurangzeb did not waste a second and hurriedly collected the hats and went on his way to the next town.
Fifty years later, young Habib, grandson of the famous Hat-Seller Aurangzeb, who worked hard to maintain the family business, was passing through the same jungle. After a long walk he was very tired and found a nice mango tree with lots of branches and cool shade. Habib decided to rest a while and very soon was fast asleep.
A few hours later, when Habib woke up, he realized that all the hats from his bag were gone! He started searching for them and to his surprise found some monkeys sitting on the mango tree wearing his hats. He was frustrated and did not know what to do, but then he remembered a story his grandfather used to tell him.
"Oh, I can fool these monkeys!" said Habib. "I will make them imitate me and very soon I will get all hats back!"
Habib waved at the monkeys and the monkeys waved back at him. He blew his nose and the monkeys blew their noses. He started dancing and the monkeys also danced. He pulled his ears and the monkeys pulled their ears. He raised his hands and the monkeys raised their hands.
Then, he threw his hat on the ground expecting all the monkeys to do so, but instead, one monkey jumped down from the mango tree, walked up to Habib, hit him on the shoulder and said, "Do you think only you had a grandfather?"
A Zen Koan:
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"
"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"