Stories for Meditation
Story for Meditation 8
Spiritual Story by Paulo Coelho
There was a king of Spain who was very proud of his ancestors, and who was known for his cruelty to the weak.
One time, he was walking with his advisers across a field in Aragon, where - years before - he had lost his father during a battle, when he found a holy man searching a large pile of bones.
" What are you doing there?" - asked the king.
"Honored greetings, Your Majesty," said the holy man. "When I heard that the king of Spain was coming this way, I resolved to recover the bones of your late father and present them to you. But however hard I search, I cannot find them:
They are exactly the same as the bones of country folk, the poor, beggars and slaves."
Reflection question:
Do I have the courage to accept that the same Self that resides in me resides in everybody else around me? Therefore, do I have the wisdom to treat them as I would like to be treated by them?
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Story for Meditation 7
The Silkworm Story
When Jesse was a little girl of six she kept silkworms. Once she noticed one struggling hard to get through a smallhole in the cocoon. Jesse became very worried about the small creature's capacity to emerge, so she took a pair of scissors and cut open the cocoon. Then to her horror, she noticed that the moth was deformed when it emerged. It had a swollen stomach and twisted wings - very different to the other moths, and unable to fly.
She carried this picture of the moth's struggle into her adult life until one day when she watched a program on moths and butterflies on television. Jesse, now in her 60s, discovered that all moths need to push hard and struggle when emerging from their cocoons to enable the blood from their bellies to pump into their wings and give them the strength to fly.
Jesse finally had the insights that nature had given her :
"Our struggles and efforts 'when things get tough' strengthen us and support our growth and development into beautiful perfection" and
"If we 'rescue' others when they are facing tough situations we intercept their development and growth"
Reflection question:
1. Where do you draw a line between this kind of 'rescue' and the practice of compassion.
2. Do you understand that struggles of life are necessary for growth? In these struggles, people can suffer also, but that is also an integral part of growing.
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Story for Meditation 6
From 'Heart of the Enlightened' by Anthony De Mello
A mouse was in constant distress because of its fear of the cat. A magician took pity on it and turned it into a cat. But then it became afraid of the dog.
So the magician turned it into a dog. Then it began to fear the panther, so the magician turned it into a panther. Whereupon it was full of fear for the hunter.
At this point, the magician gave up. He turned it into a mouse again saying, "Nothing I do for you is going to be of any help because you have the heart of a mouse."
Reflection Questions:
1. When is it that my heart turns into a heart of a mouse?
2. What are the fixations that trigger this state?
3. Keeping the fixations intact, can I change myself?
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Story for Meditation 5
The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years.
The Marshall replied, In that case, there is no time to lose. Plant it this afternoon!
Reflection question:
Am I able to differentiate important from the urgent? Do I prioritize in favor of what is really important for me?
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Story for Meditation 4
What is my best possibility?
A disciple asked his teacher, "Sir, please tell me how I can realize the Self." The teacher took the disciple to a lake and both of them got into the water. Suddenly, the teacher pressed the disciple's head under the water. After a few moments, he released him and asked him,"How did you feel?" The disciple said, " Oh! I thought I would die. I was panting for breath." The teacher then said, "When you will have the same longing for the Self, you will surely realize."
Reflection question:
1. What is it that will give me lasting fulfillment?
2. What am I doing to achieve it?
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Story for Meditation 3
Peace
There were two monks who lived together for forty years and never argued. Not even once. One day, one said to the other, 'Don't you think it is time that we had an argument, at least once?'
The other monk said,'Fine, let us start! What shall we argue about?'
'How about this peace of bread?' said the first monk.
'Okay, let us argue about this peace of bread. How are we going to do it?' said the second monk.
The first said, 'This bread is mine. It belongs to me.'
The second said, 'If it is, take it.'
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Story for Meditation 2
The Rule of Lao Tzu
From 'Freedom' By Osho
Lao Tzu became very famous, a wise man, and he was without doubt one of the wisest men ever. The emperor of China asked him very humbly to become his chief of the supreme court, because nobody could guide the country's laws better than he could. He tried to persuade the emperor, "I am not the right man," but the emperor was insistent.
Lao Tzu said, "If you don't listen to me... just one day in the court and you will be convinced that I am not the right man, because the system is wrong. Out of humbleness I was not saying the truth to you. Either I can exist or your law and order and your society can exist. So... let us try it."
The first day a thief who had stolen almost half the treasures of the richest man in the capital was brought into the court. Lao Tzu listened to the case and then he said that the thief and the richest man should both go to jail for six months.
The rich man said, "What are you saying? I have been stolen from, I have been robbed—what kind of justice is this, that you are sending me to jail for the same amount of time as the thief?"
Lao Tzu said, "I am certainly being unfair to the thief. Your need to be in jail is greater, because you have collected so much money to yourself, deprived so many people of money... thousands of people are downtrodden and you are collecting and collecting money. For what? Your very greed is creating these thieves. You are responsible.
The first crime is yours."
Reflection Questions
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Story for Meditation I
One frog of a well told his friend, a frog from a lake, how fortunate he was that he was living in the well.
He could meditate all day long and had no distractions.
He was so peaceful and complete.
His only occupations were deep contemplation and swimming in joy.
The other frog decided to live with his friend in the well.
Story for Meditation 6
"Dad, everyone is looking for happiness. But what is meant by happiness?" This was one of the questions a wise boy in India, Sveta-ketu, put to his father many centuries ago.
"One of the signs of happiness, son, is that a person who has it becomes selflessly active. A person who does not find happiness is motivated by desireful actions. His mind is cramped, his will is weak.
"What is vast and infinite brings happiness. There is no true joy in what is small or finite. I can tell you that the Infinite alone is happiness; but you must desire to understand this Infinite, my son."
"I want to understand it, Dad," said Sveta-ketu.
"Good," said his father. "Then you must listen carefully to what I say and think deeply about it:
"When a person sees that nothing and no one is separate from him, that he is one with all the people, animals, and objects in the universe, when a person sees and hears and knows nothing else -- that is the Infinite.
"But, if one sees or feels some other thing, obstructing him, separating him, then that is the finite. He has not yet found the Infinite.
"The Infinite never passes away; it lasts forever; but what is finite will pass away."
Chhandogya Upanishad
Reflection Question:
What motivates me is finite or infinite?
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