More on the Buddhists in the woods
By urbandekay
@urbandekay (18278)
February 25, 2012 2:36am CST
If you read my previous discussion about the irony of meeting two Buddhists in the wood, you will remember they asked me a riddle and I asked them one
After I had elucidated their question, I posed mine
In a field grows a single tree
two men enter the field
one man looks and the other man sees
the man that looks sees a tree
the man that sees looks at the tree
Well you may say that is not a question but a statement but no matter.
Well my Buddhist friends were unable to understand this but asked to meet next week after they had thought about it.
I wonder if you can do better than they?
all the best urban
2 responses
@sabado_dc (1001)
• Philippines
25 Feb 12
It reads more like a riddle than a statement, urbandekay!
1. Are there any plants/crops in the field for living?
2. Is the tree a boundary? Where it was located?
--Your friends were probably tired, wanted to reach the tree for a shade until the sun waxes but it seemed very far and so they backout!
@urbandekay (18278)
•
25 Feb 12
There was just one tree in the middle of the field.
In England, except on the hottest of days there is no need to shelter from the sun, though faint-hearts may wish to hide from the rain
It is indeed a riddle, as I said
all the best urban
@sabado_dc (1001)
• Philippines
25 Feb 12
The one who sees has seen the tree but it was indeed very far
The one who looks was about to find the tree if not the one who sees stopped him telling let's go, will come back next week when we got extra energy to sustain our biological needs in reaching that tree!
LOL
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
25 Feb 12
It is impossible to say whether I can do better or worse than your friends without know what was their answer. Did they look at the riddle without seeing or did they see the meaning on looking?
It would depend, I suspect, on their understanding of English because the 'riddle' mainly deals with semantics. In some languages, there is only one word for the function of the eyes and a translation would make little sense or seem repetitive. English also has two similar words relating to the ears - 'listen' and 'hear'.
@urbandekay (18278)
•
25 Feb 12
Well they were English men and your answer will be better unless it is worse than no answer
all the best urban
@JohnRok1 (2051)
•
25 Feb 12
Owlwings, you should have expanded on the 'listen'/'here' paradigm and rephrased Urban's riddle thus:
In a boat sits a man
Two men come to the sea shore
One man listens and the other man hears
The one that listens hears a man-in-a-boat
The one that hears listens to the man in the boat.
Easier to identify the meaning perhaps?
Look up Matthew 13 for further clues, including re-invocation of the visual aspect.
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