Carrying Things

Once upon a time, there were two monks who went on a pilgrimage across the country together. One day, they came to a river bank and saw a beautiful girl who was unable to cross the river.

Seeing her difficulty, the elder monk volunteered to carry her across the river on his back while the younger one looked on in consternation.

When the sun went down, the monks came upon a dilapidated shack and decided to stay there for a night. The elder monk quickly fell asleep while the younger one twisted around, unable to calm his mind. Finally, he woke up the elder monk and reprimanded him for what happened during the day. "As monks, we are supposed to keep away from women. I am really ashamed and troubled by what you did today!"

The elder monk looked at his friend and a smile broke up on his face. "Oh, so that has been what has been making you twist around. That is what is bothering you! Brother, I have left the girl behind by the river bank, why are you still carrying her around?"

In our struggle to define this notion of self, we often hold onto feelings that create in us suffering. In our definition of ourselves, we have created systems of how things "ought" to be. "I love X, so she should love me." "Y shouldn't behave this way." "Z should do what I requested."

Like the young monk we twist and turn and often stay up at night carrying these thoughts and feelings around with us. These thoughts and feelings can lead to intense suffering. They can cause us to feel depressed or anxious.

What are you carrying that you should have left at the riverbank?

"This is MINE" or is it?

We human beings can send ourselves to the moon, but we still cannot eliminate the horrors of a concentration camp or the need of prisons.

We spend billions and billions of dollars to eliminate the disease that kill us, but we pay little attention to routing out the motivations that cause us to kill each other.

For thousands of years we human beings have been unable to liberate ourselves from fear!

Why?

Because we cannot rid ourselves of hatred, discrimination, selfishness, and desire.

But why can we not eliminate these evils that almost everyone knows are destructive?

The answer is that we human beings have such a great desire to possess.

The Forest of Fear

The forest howled an unearthly howl as the pilgrim sat with the girl around an open camp fire. Staring into the dancing flames the pilgrim reflected the eyes of a man miles away. The girl glanced back and forth from the traveler and the screeching wood. Already she was beginning to wonder whether or not accompanying the pilgrim had been a wise choice. Minutes seemed to drag on for hours and finally she could bear it no more, in a timid voice that strived for strength she spoke, "Where are you originally from?" Her words seemed to rise only to be engulfed by the towering trees. The pilgrim answered without averting his eyes, "I herald from the land of Newark." Again silence. The girl had heard tales of the pilgrims before they were supposed to be searchers of Truth, Beauty, or Goodness. She decided to see what he would say, "They call this the Forest of Fear. What makes it so frightening?" The pilgrim looked up and answered "People fear what they do not understand. They fear because they do not know." "I don't know about that." the girl answered after much thought. "You don't know?" the pilgrim asked "are you afraid?" "No." the girl answered. "Oh but you should be." and with that the pilgrim returned his gaze back to the camp fire and all around the Forest of Fear howled strange unearthly noises.

"Are you afraid?" the girl asked.
"Sometimes." the pilgrim answered.
"What are you afraid of?"
"Many things," the pilgrim replied.
"Name one" she persisted.
Without hesitation the pilgrim replied "Man's soul. I fear that most never desire true Truth. I fear that since I am a man I too will fail."
"There are other forces in this world besides Truth."
"Like what?"
"Like beauty!"
"As Keats put it", the pilgrim answered "Truth and Beauty are one and the same."

Suddenly a cold howl sounded and the girl turned to look."What was that?"
"A nightmare." The pilgrim replied."
It was so close," the girl whispered "why can I not see it?"
"Because like all nightmares it lives on the edge of your imagination."
And all around them the Forest of Fear continued to howl.

-Wes Bishop

Tao Te Ching 21

The greatest virtue you can have comes from following only the Tao;
which takes a form that is intangible and evasive.
Even though the Tao is intangible and evasive,
we are able to know it exists.

Intangible and evasive, yet it has a manifestation.
Secluded and dark, yet there is a vitality within it.
It's vitality is very genuine.
Within it we can find order.

Since the beginning of time, the Tao has always existed.
It is beyond existing and not existing .
How do I know where creation comes from?
I look inside myself and see it.

Rain Music Meditation

This is a very nice music play thing for a short meditation: Rain

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