Change Comes from Within
A Zen Buddhist opened up a hot-dog stand and his first customer paid with a £20 note. After waiting, the customer demanded, “Where’s my change?”
“Sir,” replied the Buddhist, “change must come from within.”
Why do I find it funny? It’s not just the play on words, I think it’s because it juxtaposes the spiritual and the material so brazenly. The monk is either on another planet or he is being cynically manipulative. That reminds me of some cult leaders I could mention, among which I would classify certain religious practitioners.
But change does indeed come from within. Even when change is imposed there is a factor of choice: acceptance or non-acceptance.
To change self-determinedly, one looks openly and objectively in the present moment to gain a new understanding, and then one can cast away prior misconceptions, false assumptions, inappropriate decisions and prejudices - and obtain a new freedom for action. Techniques of one kind or another are simply a catalyst to this process. Recovery of choice is what personal development is about. Source
Jan 18th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
This is hilarious, and as you point out, so apt. Which partner learned something from this transcaction? Perhaps both. Next time I visit a Zen-Buddhist hot dog stand (!), I think I’ll have an apparatus rigged up to my belly which spouts coins at the push of a button. Change from within, indeed! Thanks for the laugh and the lesson.
Jan 19th, 2008 at 10:55 am
The idea of a zen-buddhist monk with a hot dog stand is so ludicrous that it really cracked me up too. ;)
Jan 26th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Besides reminding me of the importance of change, this also reminded me of this riddle:
Q: How does a Buddhist order a hot dog?
A: “Make me one with everything.”
Jan 26th, 2008 at 10:59 am
lol :D