2 Comments.

Sounds like that story in the movie Gun Shy that Sandra Bullock's character tells about the strawberry. According to one transcription:

I think I have a great parable for this problem. There was this Buddhist monk walking through the mountains. And out of nowhere, this tiger appears. It chases him to the edge of the cliff. The monk climbs over the side and he sees below him five more tigers just waiting to eat him. Now the monk is just hanging there holding onto this little wisp of a shrub, when all of a sudden he notices a strawberry. And he smiles and says, "Wow! What a perfect strawberry!" So he picks it and he eats it.

Much less overblown and no ending tacked on. I don't know if the final interpretation is the same, though.

– RobinZimm 2009-03-16 16:59 UTC

Yes! It's the same story—tnx for pointing it out and for the quote, Robin. According to [1] it's in The Mahabharat (Book 11, sections 5-6). There's a version with a strawberry cited from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps, and another by Leo Tolstoy (!). The final interpretation varies among "be here now" and "don't be a slave of your desires" ... ^z

– zz 2009-03-16 22:51 UTC</div>