A frog was born in a well and lived there all her life.
Another frog was born and lived in a lake.
The lake-frog went exploring, and when she hopped up on the edge of the well, she fell in.
She tried to tell the well-frog what the lake was like. "It's big!" she said.
"As big as this?" asked the well-frog, hopping from one side of the well to the other.
"Bigger!" said the lake-frog.
"But there's nothing bigger than the well. You've lost your mind!" shouted the well-frog. "That 'lake' is something you dreamed; it can't be real."
~ ~ ~
After yesterday's proverb about the frog in the well — "The frog in the middle of the well doesn't know the big ocean," 井の中の蛙大海を知らず i no naka no kawazu tai kai wo shira-zu — I knew I wanted to share this parable. I know this story from the Indian tradition (specifically from Sri Ramakrishna), but I am guessing it must be out there somewhere in the Buddhist tradition also, right? Maybe I will come across it in my future reading. I have certainly found many Buddhist parables which are familiar to me already from other religious traditions as well.
Here is a frog who is NOT inside a well:
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