The Frog and the Tadpole

Once upon a time there was small pond in which a baby fish and a baby tadpole lived. Because they were the same age they became very good friends, and they played and swam together every day. After a while the tadpole began to look different from his fish friend. Small legs sprouted where there were once fins, his tail shrank, and his body grew fatter and fatter.

One day the tadpole didn’t show up at their usual meeting place, and the fish began to worry that something terrible had happened to his friend. During the next week, he searched and searched every inch of the pond but could not find his friend anywhere. On the eighth day, his friend finally showed up, but now he looked completely different. The tadpole was now a frog. The frog told his childhood friend that he had discovered a new world, called dry land, which existed beyond the watery world of the pond. In that world, he said, there lived strange creatures that breathed a substance called air. He went on to explain that on dry land there were things called trees and mountains and above the dry land were things called birds, which could fly in the air as a fish swims in water. He explained that things called clouds drifted overhead in a thing called sky and that clouds dropped small particles of water on the land that ran downhill and formed ponds. This pond, said the frog, came from the clouds.

Upon hearing these incredible claims, the fish exclaimed that his friend was crazy. “You can’t expect me to believe such ridiculous stories. In fact, I think you made the whole thing up hoping that I would forgive you for ignoring me during the last seven days. I don’t consider you my friend anymore, so just go away!” No matter how hard the frog tried, he could never convince his friend that such a world as dry land actually existed.

This story, of course, is a metaphor for the profound gaps that exist between peoples’ life experiences. As human beings who live on dry land, we have experienced the world about which the frog tries to tell his friend. We know that the frog is talking about something that the fish cannot even imagine. As a metaphor for the human condition, it suggests that teachers like Buddha may be speaking frog talk to fish people. The question that this story indirectly asks is whether we, ourselves, are able to perceive the world that people like Buddha perceived, and if not, why not?

Source: 'A Path to Christ-Consciousness' by Robert Hawood and Paul Lynch, JDPSN
Photo: Maui Lava Rock Stupas by Paul Lynch, JDPSN