A Devastating Story...
Today i would like to share a story from a book called "Opening The Door Of Your Heart" by Ajahn Brahm, a senior forest monk. This is the last story in his book and really hit me hard right on my head. I read the story almost a week ago, the story still hitting me once a while....
The Worm and his lovely pile of Dung
Some people simply don't want to be free from trouble. If they haven't got enough problem of their own to worry about, then they tune in to the television soapies to worry about fictional characters' problems. Many take anxiety to be stimulating; they regard what is suffering to be good fun. They don't want to be happy, because they are too attached to their burdens.
Two monks had been close friends all their life. After they died, one was reborn a deva (a heavenly being) in a beautiful heaven world, while his friend was reborn as a worm in a pile of dung.
The deva soon began to miss his old friend and wondered where he'd been reborn. He couldn't find his friend anywhere in his own heaven world, so he looked in all hte other heaven realms too. His friend wasn't there. Using his heavenly powers, the deva searched the world of human beings but couldn't find his friend there either. Surely, he thought, his friend wouldn't have taken rebirth in the animal realm, but he checked there just in case. Still there was no sign of his friend from the previous life. So, next, the deva searched the world of what we call the 'creepy-crawlies' and, to his great surprise, there he found his friend reborn as a worm in a disgusting pile of stinking dung!
The bonds of friendship are so strong that they often outlast death. The deva felt he had to rescue his old companion from such an unfortunate rebirth, no matter what karma had let to it.
So the deva appeared in front of the foul pile of dung and called out, 'Hey, worm! do you remember me? We are monks together in our past life and you were my best friend. Whereas I've been reborn in a most delightful heaven world, you've been reborn in this revolting pile of cow-shit. Don't be worried, though, becuase i can take you to heaven with me. Come on, old friend!'
'Hang on a moment!' said the worm, 'What's so great about this "heaven world" you are twittering on about? I'm very happy here with my fragnant, delicious pile of delectable dung, thank you very much.'
'You don't understand,' said the deva, and he gave the worm a brilliant description of the delights and pleasures of heaven.
'Is there any dung up there, then?' asked the worm, getting to the point.
'Of course not!' sniffed the deva.
'Then I aint going!' replied the worm firmly. 'Nick off!' And the worm burrowed into the centre of the dung pile.
The deva thought that if only the worm could see heaven for himself, then he would understand. So the deva held his nose and thrust his soft hand into the repulsive pile of dung, searching for the worm. He found him and began to pull him out.
'Hey! Leave me alone!' screamed the worm. 'Help! May Day! I'm being worm-napped!' And the little slippery worm wriggled and squirmed till he got free, then he dived back into the dung pile to hide.
The kind deva plunged his fingers into the stinking faces again, found the worm and tried once more to pull him out. The deva almost got the worm out, but because the worm was smeared with slimey filth and did not want to go he escaped a second time and hid even deeper in the dung pile. One hundred and eight times the deva tried to lead the poor worm out from his miserable dung pile, but the worm was so attached to his lovely pile of dung that he always wriggled back!
So, eventually the deva had to go back up to heaven and leave the foolish worm to his 'lovely pile of dung'.
Thus, ends the hundred and eight stories told in this book. <-- this is the killer sentence !!! Is it a joke?
*****************************
Some people simply don't want to be free from trouble. If they haven't got enough problem of their own to worry about, then they tune in to the television soapies to worry about fictional characters' problems. Many take anxiety to be stimulating; they regard what is suffering to be good fun. They don't want to be happy, because they are too attached to their burdens.
Two monks had been close friends all their life. After they died, one was reborn a deva (a heavenly being) in a beautiful heaven world, while his friend was reborn as a worm in a pile of dung.
The deva soon began to miss his old friend and wondered where he'd been reborn. He couldn't find his friend anywhere in his own heaven world, so he looked in all hte other heaven realms too. His friend wasn't there. Using his heavenly powers, the deva searched the world of human beings but couldn't find his friend there either. Surely, he thought, his friend wouldn't have taken rebirth in the animal realm, but he checked there just in case. Still there was no sign of his friend from the previous life. So, next, the deva searched the world of what we call the 'creepy-crawlies' and, to his great surprise, there he found his friend reborn as a worm in a disgusting pile of stinking dung!
The bonds of friendship are so strong that they often outlast death. The deva felt he had to rescue his old companion from such an unfortunate rebirth, no matter what karma had let to it.
So the deva appeared in front of the foul pile of dung and called out, 'Hey, worm! do you remember me? We are monks together in our past life and you were my best friend. Whereas I've been reborn in a most delightful heaven world, you've been reborn in this revolting pile of cow-shit. Don't be worried, though, becuase i can take you to heaven with me. Come on, old friend!'
'Hang on a moment!' said the worm, 'What's so great about this "heaven world" you are twittering on about? I'm very happy here with my fragnant, delicious pile of delectable dung, thank you very much.'
'You don't understand,' said the deva, and he gave the worm a brilliant description of the delights and pleasures of heaven.
'Is there any dung up there, then?' asked the worm, getting to the point.
'Of course not!' sniffed the deva.
'Then I aint going!' replied the worm firmly. 'Nick off!' And the worm burrowed into the centre of the dung pile.
The deva thought that if only the worm could see heaven for himself, then he would understand. So the deva held his nose and thrust his soft hand into the repulsive pile of dung, searching for the worm. He found him and began to pull him out.
'Hey! Leave me alone!' screamed the worm. 'Help! May Day! I'm being worm-napped!' And the little slippery worm wriggled and squirmed till he got free, then he dived back into the dung pile to hide.
The kind deva plunged his fingers into the stinking faces again, found the worm and tried once more to pull him out. The deva almost got the worm out, but because the worm was smeared with slimey filth and did not want to go he escaped a second time and hid even deeper in the dung pile. One hundred and eight times the deva tried to lead the poor worm out from his miserable dung pile, but the worm was so attached to his lovely pile of dung that he always wriggled back!
So, eventually the deva had to go back up to heaven and leave the foolish worm to his 'lovely pile of dung'.
Thus, ends the hundred and eight stories told in this book. <-- this is the killer sentence !!! Is it a joke?
*****************************
posted by mikanico at
1:45 PM
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