THE OLD MAN
I know few of you read the stories of Buddha. I will quickly summarize one of my favorites: the fable of the old man:
Summary:
Man's horse ran away. His neighbor came over to tell him how sad he was about the "bad" turn of events that made him lose his only horse.
The only many merely said "thank you for your concern, but do not fret for me, I do not feel the "badness" of the event, it was merely an event that occurred.
A week later the horse returned. It had found a herd of wild horses and they came to the property to graze. The neighbor came over to share his happiness at the "good" luck of gaining a herd of horses from an old and weak mare.
The old man merely said "thank you for your concern, but the return of his horse was merely an event and the "goodness" of the event was not a matter which he had the wisdom to define.
While trying to break one of the new horses the old man's only son was thrown and broke his leg. Yet again the neighbor shared his sadness that such bad result should come from the good luck of gaining the herd of horses
As before, the old man thanked the neighbor for his concern but said that his sons broken leg was an event over which he was not wise enough to call good or bad.
The next week the Chinese Army drove through and was forcibly taking young men to come and serve military service. Because of his son's broken leg they deemed him unfit for service and left him behind.
The neighbor came over and told the old man how relieved he was to hear that the old man's son had the good fortune not to be forced to join the military.
The old man simply replied he was grateful for the neighbors continued display of love and concern, but could not speak to the "goodness" or "badness" of the situation. Again he reminded the neighbor that the goodness or badness of an event fluctuated with time and beyond the wisdom of any man. The dilemma is that we can only speak to the moment or the past. He again told the neighbor of our inability to control or predict the flow of time left him and all men were incapable of assinging a moment in time as either good or bad.
The next day another event occurred. The neighbor came to share his opinion.
This leads us to 3 important questions:
1) Do we really need to know what that event was?
2) Are we convinced we have found a fountain of wisdom which gives us a knowledge of time which places us above the old man.
3) If so, why is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Summary:
Man's horse ran away. His neighbor came over to tell him how sad he was about the "bad" turn of events that made him lose his only horse.
The only many merely said "thank you for your concern, but do not fret for me, I do not feel the "badness" of the event, it was merely an event that occurred.
A week later the horse returned. It had found a herd of wild horses and they came to the property to graze. The neighbor came over to share his happiness at the "good" luck of gaining a herd of horses from an old and weak mare.
The old man merely said "thank you for your concern, but the return of his horse was merely an event and the "goodness" of the event was not a matter which he had the wisdom to define.
While trying to break one of the new horses the old man's only son was thrown and broke his leg. Yet again the neighbor shared his sadness that such bad result should come from the good luck of gaining the herd of horses
As before, the old man thanked the neighbor for his concern but said that his sons broken leg was an event over which he was not wise enough to call good or bad.
The next week the Chinese Army drove through and was forcibly taking young men to come and serve military service. Because of his son's broken leg they deemed him unfit for service and left him behind.
The neighbor came over and told the old man how relieved he was to hear that the old man's son had the good fortune not to be forced to join the military.
The old man simply replied he was grateful for the neighbors continued display of love and concern, but could not speak to the "goodness" or "badness" of the situation. Again he reminded the neighbor that the goodness or badness of an event fluctuated with time and beyond the wisdom of any man. The dilemma is that we can only speak to the moment or the past. He again told the neighbor of our inability to control or predict the flow of time left him and all men were incapable of assinging a moment in time as either good or bad.
The next day another event occurred. The neighbor came to share his opinion.
This leads us to 3 important questions:
1) Do we really need to know what that event was?
2) Are we convinced we have found a fountain of wisdom which gives us a knowledge of time which places us above the old man.
3) If so, why is that a good thing or a bad thing?
posted by KELLY FRAZIER at 11:23 PM
1 Comments:
Do you have the wisdom to know if these are important questions?
Good story.
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