Something to think about

[Duskwaith]

Hey Escapists.

Me and my uncle where haveing a chat over philosphoical ideas etc. when he told me this storey.

There is a cat that is fed and tended two but two Buddhist temples, the cat making trips between each one for food and the like. One day the head monk of one of the temples grabs the cat and says "Give me one reason not to kill this cat" no one answers him and he kills the cat.
Later on the head monks' top student arrives home and is angered to hear that the cat has been killed. He confronts the head monk. The head monk asks him "what reason should have stopped me killing?" The student then removes his shoes and places them on his head causing the head monk to exclaim "If only you were hear the cat would still be alive"

They are designed to make you think so Escapians tell me what do you think. Buddhist monks use these types of storys to achieve a clear mind and accept there is no clear answer

Enjoy ,its been on my mind for 2 days now.

 

[DuplicateValue]

I.......don't see why that's a reason not to kill the cat.

Assuming I read it right, it was a bit messy to be honest.

EDIT: Okay, the story as I understand it:

- Cat is fed and looked after in two different temples.
- Psychopath head monk decides he'll kill said cat unless anyone can think of reasons not to.
- No reasons are found - the monks are clearly not too intelligent.
- Head monk kills cat.
- Head monk's student returns and gets angry.
- Same student puts shoes on his head.
- Head monk sees some deep meaning in this and says cat would still be alive if he had seen this shoe thing earlier.

Right...

 

[ciancon]

Right.....all i can say for certain is that your avatar's pretty hot (woo Hayley)!

 

[TriggerHappyAngel]

removes his shoes and places them on his head

or you have made a huge typo, or i don't understand this at all

P.S. Hayley! <3

 

[GothmogII]

I don't get the lesson in that one. Why would the monk be angry the cat was getting food elsewhere? If he was just doing it to make a point about people standing up for the cat, he certainly chose a pretty vile way to go about it.

One would wonder how he got to be head monk in the first place, going around killing defenceless kittys like that.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

It's like if Douglas Adams had decided instead of writing science fiction, to write ancient Budhist proverbs. I don't know if this is actually what Budhist monks use to achieve mental clarity and free themselves from the perception of all things having a clear answer. One has to be a little bit skeptical with just about anything that anyone claims is coming from an Eastern tradition, though it wouldn't surprise me too much if it was.

If nothing else, it makes for a good nonsensical story.

 

[TheComedown]

Think you should fix up some of that spelling.

This story is going to bug me for days. Maybe the student was comparing the act of killing the cat to some something mindless and pointless like the act of putting the shoes on his head. He had no reason to put the shoes on his head, the other monk had no reason to kill the cat...

Yeah.... deep thought at 1:40 in the morning

 

[Cinnamonfloss]

I dont get it.
GWAA my brain is exploding trying to understand it.

 

[SonicWaffle]

.

They are designed to make you think so Escapians tell me what do you think. Buddhist monks use these types of storys to achieve a clear mind and accept there is no clear answer

Surely a better way to achieve mental clarity would be to avoid confusing the students with inane stories that go nowhere?

Puzzles and riddles are designed to make you think. This is not. There is no mental exertion required to reach an answer because there is no answer. Not "no clear answer", just no answer that makes sense.

 

[uberman13]

I.......don't see why that's a reason not to kill the cat.

Assuming I read it right, it was a bit messy to be honest.

The head monk would've smacked some sense into the student for being silly, meanwhile the cat makes a grand escape.
Bad jokes aside, these kinds of stories are very interesting to listen, if told the right way ofcourse.

 

[TheComedown]

.

They are designed to make you think so Escapians tell me what do you think. Buddhist monks use these types of storys to achieve a clear mind and accept there is no clear answer

Surely a better way to achieve mental clarity would be to avoid confusing the students with inane stories that go nowhere?

Puzzles and riddles are designed to make you think. This is not. There is no mental exertion required to reach an answer because there is no answer. Not "no clear answer", just no answer that makes sense.

I don't know I'd like to think my answer above makes a least a bit of sense.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

How is putting one's shoes upon their head a reason to not kill the cat? It makes no sense just like your spelling.

 

[operationgenesis]

This is obviously a case of "*insert non-sequitur here*, your argument is invalid."

Also, I totally cheered when he killed the cat. That thing needed to learn it's place.

 

[Just Craig]

So, wait...
If I've got this right, the story (the shoes-on-head part anyway) is confusing on purpose?
Wait, Bhuddist monks wear shoes? I figured they'd wear sandals or just go barefoot...

Let's see... Shoes on the head...
Was he trying to say, "Well, you might as well have asked, 'Give me a reason not to wear shoes on my head,' esteemed cat-slayer. As such, I have now demonstrated how senseless wearing shoes on my head is. One can only assume slaying the cat for not having a reason not to was just as senseless."

How's that?

 

[Eliam_Dar]

Only answer I can think of is: Life must never be taken without reason. (There is no reason to take a like just because in the same way that there is no reason for shoes to be on a head)

And please fix the grammar.

 

[SonicWaffle]

I don't know I'd like to think my answer above makes a least a bit of sense.

In the second scroll of Wen the Eternally Surprised a story is written concerning one day when the apprentice Clodpool, in a rebellious mood, approached Wen and spake thusly: "Master, what is the difference between a humanistic, monastic system of belief in which wisdom is sought by means of an apparently nonsensical system of questions and answers, and a lot of mystic gibberish made up on the spur of the moment?" Wen considered this for some time, and at last said: "A fish!" And Clodpool went away, satisfied.

 

[TheComedown]

I don't know I'd like to think my answer above makes a least a bit of sense.

In the second scroll of Wen the Eternally Surprised a story is written concerning one day when the apprentice Clodpool, in a rebellious mood, approached Wen and spake thusly: "Master, what is the difference between a humanistic, monastic system of belief in which wisdom is sought by means of an apparently nonsensical system of questions and answers, and a lot of mystic gibberish made up on the spur of the moment?" Wen considered this for some time, and at last said: "A fish!" And Clodpool went away, satisfied.

I'm sorry there are WAY to many big words there for me at 2 in the morning. Dumb it down and I'll give it ago, but right now I really cant be bothered looking up all them big words.

 

[quiet_samurai]

Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

 

[Danpascooch]

I corrected your original entry for spelling and grammar, I'd edit the OP

There is a cat that is fed and tended to by two Buddhist temples, the cat making trips between each one for food and the like. One day the head monk of one of the temples grabs the cat and says "Give me one reason not to kill this cat" no one answers and he kills the cat.
Later in the day the head monks' top student arrives home and is angered to hear that the cat has been killed so he confronts the head monk. The head monk asks him "what reason was there to not kill the cat?" The student then removes his shoes and places them on his head causing the head monk to exclaim "If only you were here the cat would still be alive"

These stories are just designed to make you think for no good reason. There isn't an answer that wouldn't just be pulled out of our ass' because it's a nonsense story. You could come up with ton's of metaphors like 'we're as lowly as the cat is' or maybe 'do you need a reason not ware shoes on your head?' or any kind of tripe.

But the truth is there isn't an answer because there isn't a question. It's just a nonsense statement. He could have put his pants on his head or wiped his arse with nettles. It doesn't matter because it has no real bearing on the story. It's just a forced ending trying to force the listener to search for an answer that doesn't exist.

Hardly a way to achieve mental clarity unless monks think that just ignoring every problem because you can't solve all of them is a good philosophy.

Actually, I think I found a bit of a funny answer that makes some sense.

With the cat traveling between the temples, they could have used him to transport small items (such as shoes) back and forth by attaching them to the cat's back, that's the reason not to kill him, he could have been used as a small beast of burden, and now they have to transport the stuff themselves! By putting his shoes on his head, he was saying "Hey dumb ass! We could have had the cat carry shit like this"

It's the most practical reason I can think of, I don't buy the "Shoes on head has no point, so killing the cat has no point" because the story made a point of saying the cat traveled between the temples, why bother specifying that if the reason is: "Don't kill shit, killing shit is bad"?