IOU - Hard Work

Buddha and his disciples begged for their food.

One day a rich man was very rough with Buddha and told him off by saying, "Aren't you ashamed that you beg? You don't believe in hard work like I do. You are lazy and depend on others for food. Tell me why I must give you something?"

Buddha replied, "I do a lot of hard work much harder than others do."

The rich man said, 'But I don't see that."

Buddha, "I work very hard to train my mind to remain empty but fully attentive. It is very hard work. Try to do it for a minute and you would realize how hard it is. I do it for 24 hours a day. Since my work involves the mind you don't see it.'

"How does that help?" the rich man asked.

Buddha reassuringly replied, "Well, when you change your inside your outside world changes. You become the master of all that you do and you can put an end to your sufferings. It is worth more than all the riches of the world that you may collect. But hard work is needed"

The rich man realized the truth and immebecame Buddha's disciple.

 

Great Indian Stories - retold

 

Happiness -- Where is it?

Deep was a poor man. One day, by chance, he found a big and bright diamond. But he could not find any use of it. So he thought about someone who might need it most and be momentarily happy to receive this diamond as a gift.

After some hard thinking he thought of someone. He took the diamond to the King and presented him the biggest and largest diamond the king had ever seen in his life.

The king was amazed by this act and asked, 'Why do you present me with such an invaluable diamond?'

"Oh King! I thought it would make you very happy." Deep replied.

'How do you know that? You could have kept it yourself'

'No Sir, I have no need for this. I thought of the neediest person who might need this diamond to be happy. And it was you. Because you are the poorest amongst all of us. You need so many things and is always hunting for so many other things in life. So you always lack happiness"

Indian stories retold -- Nagarjuna, A letter to a friend.

Morale:

Happiness can never be obtained by relating our worth to the external environment. However, it can always be achieved by anyone who takes care to continually adjust and refine the internal workings of the mind (the structure that causes everything to happen around a person). It is not easy but worth a try. As Buddha said there are only two mistakes one can make in not achieving a sense of balance, flow and happiness -- a) not start the journey b) not to finish it.