Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger waited to eat him. Only the vine sustained him. Two mice, one white and one black, began to gnaw away at the vine.
The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!
This brief Zen story contains profound teaching about the nature of existence and the practice of presence. The tigers represent death - the tiger above is the past, the tiger below the future. The mice are day and night, steadily eroding our time.
Yet in this moment of mortal danger, the man finds perfect appreciation for the strawberry. This is the practice: to be fully present to the sweetness of this moment, even when surrounded by circumstances beyond our control.
Source
Traditional Zen Story