The Ascetic Who Wanted Some Comfort

Once there was a spiritual aspirant who had decided to take to a life of asceticism. He lived very simply on the bank of a river, taking shelter beneath the trees and eating the fruits and roots that nature provided. His morning ritual was to take a bath in the river and wash his clothing. However because he had only one suit of clothes it was a little uncomfortable to dress himself again in the damp clothing and wait for the sunshine to dry them while he was wearing them. He decided therefore to get another set of clothes to wear while the other set was drying.

Life was a lot more comfortable for the ascetic now, when he washed his clothing he would hang it on the branch of a tree and wear it the next day when it was nice a dry. However before long he noticed that as the clothes hung up to dry a mouse would come and nibble at the clothing, each day creating more and more holes. “I will get a cat to protect my clothing and keep the mouse away.,” thought the ascetic. So he got a cat, but the cat needed to be fed so he got a cow to get the milk to feed the cat. Now someone was needed to milk the cow to feed the cat so the ascetic found a wife. But his wife needed somewhere to live so he had to build a house. The unhappy ascetic approached a sage and complained to him how complicated his life had become.

“Nothing comes without a price,” said the sage. “If you had wanted to have a simple life you should have just tolerated your wet clothing.”

Looking For Happiness

Once a man, renowned for his arrogance, proudly rode into town on his fine horse and tethering it outside he swaggered into the local tavern to refresh himself. Meanwhile the townspeople, always happy to bring a proud man down, thought to play a trick on him. They hurriedly took his horse to the farrier and had him take the horse’s shoes off and put them back on the wrong way round. Then they returned the horse and left him tethered as if nothing had happened. Before too long the man came out, glanced disdainfully at the gathered crowd, mounted his horse and rode off.
Not many miles down the road the horse, feeling uncomfortable with the shoes on back to front, became very frisky and rearing up bucked the man onto the ground and galloped off. When the man got up he couldn’t see his horse anywhere so with great presence of mind sought out his horse’s hoof prints and followed them, certain that they would lead him to where his horse was. However because the shoes were on backwards the hoof prints led him back into town, right back to the same tavern where he had been drinking. Puzzled, the man enquired if anyone had seen his horse. The townspeople were laughing so much they could hardly speak until one old man pointed to the footprints and said, ‘Your horse’s shoes are on back to front so the footprints although appearing to go in the right direction are actually leading you backwards. It is a lesson in life that what may seem forward is actually backward. Indeed sometimes that for which we are looking is in a totally different direction!’

Adversity is the Mother of Solutions

Once a man came across a huge mango tree. It was abundantly filled with mangoes. The hungry man decided he would climb the tree to find a mango which was ready to eat. The higher the man climbed the more he could understand that the lower mangoes were not quite ready and it was the ones higher up which were riper. In fact, the man discerned, the mangoes at the very top of the tree were large and perfect for eating right away. So carefully the man edged his way up the tree to get the topmost mango, the largest and ripest one on the whole tree.

After securing the mango the man tried to make his way back down but alas it was impossible, he could find no way to get down. He was stuck up the tree. He called out loudly for help. Some people from a nearby village heard him and came to his assistance but they were afraid to climb to the top of the tree to assist lest they too got into the same predicament. So the man was up the top of the tree bewailing his predicament and the villagers were down the bottom, perplexed, not knowing how to help the man.

Onto this scene came a wandering holy man. ‘Ah,’ thought the villagers, ‘maybe this great wise person can help us. Maybe he has some mystic powers that will help the man down out of the tree or maybe he has some special mantras that can do wonderful things.’

The sage agreed to help them. He picked up some rocks and started throwing them at the man up the tree. Astonished the villagers asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’

‘You asked me to bring the man down out of the tree.’ replied the sage ‘Sometimes all we need in life to get going is a little push.’

Now the man was not only stuck up the top of the tree but also getting bombarded with rocks. Thunderstruck he angrily scrambled his way down the tree to deal good and strong with the so called holy man! But the sage was nowhere to be seen.

Namaste
From Margaret
Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

The Stolen Bag

The Stolen Bag
Once a man was walking forlornly down the dusty road with a large bag over his shoulder. A traveler fell into step beside him and they started talking. After some time the traveler could see that the man was deeply troubled. “You appear very miserable,” said the traveler, “what is the cause of your misery?” The man then proceeded to tell the traveler the long and involved story of how he had lost an immense fortune due to bad luck and bad management. Finishing his tale of woe the man stopped and took his bag off his shoulder. “See this bag?” he said despondently, “Now all my possessions in the world are in this bag.”

At that the traveler snatched the bag from him and ran off! “Hey!” called the man and began running after him. But the traveler was fleet of foot and was out of sight with no hope of the man catching up to him. Puffing and cursing and angry the man continued on his journey. Around a bend in the road the man could see an object on the road, coming closer he could see it was his bag. Now the man was as happy as could be he had his bag back and was thankful for what little he had.