with the constant realization that I choose my own suffering, whether I like it or not.
In other words, I am realizing how much personal responsibility I have in my daily outlook.
To me, this parable spoke perfectly to the state of emotional flux I have been in,
reminding me of the value of understanding with a tender and compassionate heart,
something I have been so grateful for in very specific people, and something I want to emulate:
Mille grazie, Gabes, Angi, Emlyn, and Bahn...
Negative of a 1998 photograph of the Dalai Lama standing among young monks. (Photo by Richard Avedon / U.C.L.A. Fowler Museum and the Avedon Foundation)
A big, tough samurai once went to see a little monk.
"Monk!"
He barked, in a voice accustomed to instant obedience.
"Teach me about heaven and hell!"
The monk looked up at the mighty warrior and replied with utter disdain,
"Teach you about heaven and hell? I couldn't teach you about anything. You're dumb. You're dirty. You're a disgrace, an embarrassment to the samurai class. Get out of my sight. I can't stand you."
The samurai got furious. He shook, red in the face, speechless with rage. He pulled out his sword, and prepared to slay the monk.
Looking straight into the samurai's eyes, the monk said softly,
"That's hell."
The samurai froze, realizing the compassion of the monk who had risked his life to show him hell! He put down his sword and fell to his knees, filled with gratitude.
The monk said softly,
"And that's heaven."
Excerpted from Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values.
via {on being}
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