A
monk decides to meditate alone, away from his monastery. He takes his boat out
to the middle of the lake, moors it there, closes his eyes and begins his
meditation.
After
a few hours of undisturbed silence, he suddenly feels the bump of another boat
colliding with his own. With his eyes still closed, he senses his anger rising,
and by the time he opens his eyes, he is ready to scream at the boatman who
dared disturb his meditation.
But
when he opens his eyes, he sees it’s an empty boat that had probably got
untethered and floated to the middle of the lake.
At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization, and understands that the anger is within him; it merely needs the bump of an external object to provoke it out of him.
At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization, and understands that the anger is within him; it merely needs the bump of an external object to provoke it out of him.
From
then on, whenever he comes across someone who irritates him or provokes him to
anger, he reminds himself, “The other person is merely an empty boat. The anger
is within me.”
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