PAUSE FOR THOUGHT
From Dharmarcharia Nagaraja, of the Glasgow Buddhist Centre
Thursday 24 July 2008
It is said that the devil is in the detail. That?s why for me at times I can only make sense of the struggles we humans suffer from generalisation of universal truths often presented in a more poetical way, or as a story worth retelling presented best in parables. I think the old ones are the best parables as they seem to reach the parts that my logic can?t, so why is life such an unending struggle?
Well there was once a rare species of monkeys who were sought for their deep red blood as a dye by cloth merchants. These wee monkeys were a canny lot - and not easily caught- but they had two vices:
Drinking rice wine and wearing fancy high heeled shoes. One day, an even cannier hunter, tracked the monkeys down. He placed open barrels of rice wine under the trees where they lived, then he scattered many brightly coloured bejewelled shoes around the barrels and hid. Soon, the monkeys drawn by the aroma of the wine carried up into the trees by the late afternoon breeze appeared amongst the barrels and shoes spying them suspiciously.
"This is probably a trap set by hunters? they whispered to one another
?Let's get out of here, quickly, quietly."
However, a few monkeys tarried, their hungry eyes lingering
on the inviting barrels full of wine. "We will be ok, if we just taste the wine, one sip, jut one sip, and then we?ll leave!
So a brave, wee monkey took a quick taste of the wine-oh it tasted so good! The other monkeys, watched from the safety of the trees, but soon unable to resist and throwing caution to the wind, they jumped back down to the barrels. They drank and drank and drank some more. Full of liquor, they found the beautiful decorated shoes, and in a drunken stupor were soon vainly parading back and forth admiring themselves. As they monkeys staggered about, the hunter sprang from his hiding place.
The monkeys, precarious on their high heeled shoes, could not escape and they were all captured and taken away and made into dye
This story of course is not really about monkeys, but about us humans so easily distracted by vanity and immediate gratification. We become slaves to desires, and can not see the dangers into which they will lead us.
:h
From Dharmarcharia Nagaraja, of the Glasgow Buddhist Centre
Thursday 24 July 2008
It is said that the devil is in the detail. That?s why for me at times I can only make sense of the struggles we humans suffer from generalisation of universal truths often presented in a more poetical way, or as a story worth retelling presented best in parables. I think the old ones are the best parables as they seem to reach the parts that my logic can?t, so why is life such an unending struggle?
Well there was once a rare species of monkeys who were sought for their deep red blood as a dye by cloth merchants. These wee monkeys were a canny lot - and not easily caught- but they had two vices:
Drinking rice wine and wearing fancy high heeled shoes. One day, an even cannier hunter, tracked the monkeys down. He placed open barrels of rice wine under the trees where they lived, then he scattered many brightly coloured bejewelled shoes around the barrels and hid. Soon, the monkeys drawn by the aroma of the wine carried up into the trees by the late afternoon breeze appeared amongst the barrels and shoes spying them suspiciously.
"This is probably a trap set by hunters? they whispered to one another
?Let's get out of here, quickly, quietly."
However, a few monkeys tarried, their hungry eyes lingering
on the inviting barrels full of wine. "We will be ok, if we just taste the wine, one sip, jut one sip, and then we?ll leave!
So a brave, wee monkey took a quick taste of the wine-oh it tasted so good! The other monkeys, watched from the safety of the trees, but soon unable to resist and throwing caution to the wind, they jumped back down to the barrels. They drank and drank and drank some more. Full of liquor, they found the beautiful decorated shoes, and in a drunken stupor were soon vainly parading back and forth admiring themselves. As they monkeys staggered about, the hunter sprang from his hiding place.
The monkeys, precarious on their high heeled shoes, could not escape and they were all captured and taken away and made into dye
This story of course is not really about monkeys, but about us humans so easily distracted by vanity and immediate gratification. We become slaves to desires, and can not see the dangers into which they will lead us.
:h
c: :heart:
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