Tao Thay Shang Men - English

Do not Damage The Tiger’s Skin
There is a family of a father and a son, living in a village by a forest. One day while searching for woods in the forest, the father was suddenly attacked by a tiger and he was pulled in to the jungle. Once his son knew the incident, he immediately came to help and carried with him a knife. The son chased that tiger and with a knife in his hand, ready to kill it for saving his father’s live. As he was getting closer and ready to stab his knife to kill the tiger, suddenly his father, while still bitten, screamed to him “My son, my son, if you want to stab it, stab it at its legs only. Don’t damage its skin, so that we can sell it at a better price.”
As live is in danger, his mind is on material goods. In our society, many people are like this. They only think of their wealth without considering other things, even their own lives. Greed is poisoning human’s heart, killing human’s spirit. Material goods are, in fact, important, however do not become greedy and get controlled by them. If greed is controlling human’s live, they will live with no heart. All the things they do are to fulfill their hunger. In the end, their greed will destroy themselves. Sprit to strive has to be directed into a right way. So it would not damage ourselves.