Mud and the mind : A day in Buddha's life
Mud and the mind*
Buddha for all of us represents wisdom, compassion and absolute reality. Equanimity of mind is best understood when we observe Buddha's reactions to
events and non-events in his life. His
sense of compassion moves you with its sheer
sense of simplicity.
Let us share with you a day
from the
life of Buddha.
Buddha, in one of his travels,was going from one town to another along with his
disciples. The Holy One's
company, His observations,suggestion and advice were gems of wisdom that his disciples were blessed to receive.
As this team traversed some
distance, they came upon
a lake. Buddha voiced His need for
some water as He was thirsty. “Do get me some water from the lake as I am thirsty.”
The disciple walked toward the lake to
a point where he could fetch some water when
he saw a bullock cart cross
the lake resulting in the lake turning to
a murky brown.
“Oh no,” he thought, rather disappointed about the ill-timed passing by of the bullock cart.
“How do I take this muddy water to Buddha? What will He say to this?”
He walked back to Buddha not looking
too happy and said to him, “Buddha, this water
isn’t good to drink. It is
dreadfully muddy.” Buddha waited for
about a half hour and sent him back to the same lake to get Him a bit of the same water!
The disciple visibly puzzled walked
back quite sure the lake wouldn’t change.
A closer look showed that the lake
was indeed still addled. He was right; the lake
didn't change colour in that time at all. There
was no way he was going to take this water
back to Buddha!
He marched back to his master. He
was received with the same calm and waited for a while.
Buddha told him to go to the lake yet again. The
disciple knew not what
Buddha had in mind as he found the
whole exercise a bit odd.The lake that was murky and filthy all the while since the
bullock cart left seemed to be a totally
different one this
time – a clean, clear lake with not a
hint of brown! The
mud nicely settled into a bed of
sediment; it required no
skill to fill his pot of crystal clear water
for Buddha.
Feeling triumphant after more than a
single attempt, he
walked back pleased to have gone
back on a successful note.
Buddha in his quintessential serene
look, accepted the
water, and turned to this disciple and
said, “Did you see
what it took to get me some clean
water? Nothing! You
just let it be. You gave it time and
what happened? The
mud raced to the bottom of the lake
leaving you with clean water ".
“The same holds true for your
mind as well.
well. Just let it be.
All it needs is a little bit
of your time. It will quieten down on
its own. It requires no effort from you
to still it. It eventually happens with the help of a little time.
It is effortless.”
Just how supremely powerful is this
simple message? The
disciple was obviously stupefied. The
peace of mind that
seems to elude most of us on this
planet actually is right
here for all of us to experience.
“It is actually effortless.” It isn’t a
wearisome exercise
that we think only few can get results
for. It is actually that simple for all of
us!”
This is true in the present situation also.Patience and perseverance brings good results.
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