There's a Zen story in which a man is enjoying himself on a river at dusk. He sees another boat coming down the river toward him. At first it seems so nice to him that someone else is also enjoying the river on a nice summer evening. Then he realizes that the boat is coming right toward him, faster and faster. He begins to get upset and starts to yell, "Hey, hey watch out! For Pete's sake, turn aside!" But the boat just comes faster and faster, right toward him. By this time he's standing up in his boat, screaming and shaking his fist, and then the boat smashes right into him. He sees that it's an empty boat.
This is the classic story of our whole life situation.
Pema Chodron, Start Where You Are
From Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
Received as Daily Dharma from Tricycle.com on the 29th of January 2009
Saturday 31 January 2009
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3 comments:
Poor fellow waited until the end...
True, true! As so often we do...
Screaming and shaking my fist - that pretty much sums up my life situation alright.
I remember reading this a few years back in Pema Chödrön's book. Thanks for the reminder.
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