The document tells a story about a father who punishes his 3-year-old daughter for wasting wrapping paper. The next morning, the daughter gives her father a gift box, saying it is for him. When the father finds the box is empty, he yells at the daughter, who explains she blew kisses into the box for him. The father realizes his mistake and begs his daughter for forgiveness. He keeps the empty box by his bed to remember the love and kindness of his daughter.

1. Story To
Reflect
Upon 157
Eight Worldly Winds
There was once a famous scholar who practiced
meditation for some years. He had earlier befriended a
Zen Master. The scholar, thinking that he had made great
spiritual progress, wrote a poem and asked his attendant
to deliver it to the Master who lived across the river. The
Master opened the letter and read the short poem aloud:
"Unmoved by the eight worldly winds,
Serenely I sit on the purplish gold terrace."
The lips of the Master broke into a smile. Picking up an
ink brush, he scribbled the word "FART" across the
poem and asked that it be delivered back to the scholar.
The scholar was upset and angry and he went across the
river right away to tell the Master off for being so rude.
The Master laughed as he said, "You said you are no
longer moved by the eight worldly winds and yet with
just one 'fart', you charged across the river like a rat!"
Reflections
* We all react to the 8 worldly winds of happiness and
sorrow, gain and loss, praise and blame, honor and
dishonor. It is not easy to conquer them.
* The ego and self-pride in us is very strong. It takes
great spiritual cultivation to remove it.

2. Story To
Reflect
Upon 158
A Box Of Kisses
The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-
year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper.
Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child
tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.
Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the
next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy." He was
embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared
again when he found the box was empty.
He yelled at her, "Don't you know that when you give
someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside
it?"
The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and
said, "Oh, Daddy, it is not empty. I blew kisses into the box.
All for you, Daddy."
The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little
girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.
It is told that the man kept that gold box by his bed for years
and whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an
imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had
put it there.
Reflections
* Due to our conditioned thinking and worldly ways where we
place so much value on material things, we forget about the
intangible treasures like love, sincerity, kindness, gratitude and
so on.
* There is a lot we can learn from the spontaneous innocence,
goodness and simplicity of a child.