A Short Story To Make You Stop And Think
A young Emperor walked around in his lands and possessions with his guards. The people bowed lower than the ground in tribute to the ruler. At the Emperor's sign, one of his guards threw a handful of copper coins from time to time and the people crowded together, fighting to get them. Then an old man, with dirty and tattered robes turned to the Emperor unexpectedly. He held a wooden cup, asking for some coins. The guard jumped to stop him, but the Emperor signaled to let the old man approach him. Quite surprising to all, the Emperor jumped from his horse, kneeling before the old man, kissing the end of his dirty and wretched robe.
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- Welcome to your lands, Dad - he whispered. |
- What kind of a devil's cup is this one, dad? It doesn't want to fill up!
- I am happy, son, that you are much more clever than me!
You only needed three sacks of gold to realize that this cup is not going to fill up. I devoted my whole life trying to fill it up - half the world, all the possible wealth on earth. I threw my health into it - everything. It was still empty... Because this is the cup of the "Wishes and Desires", son. And it never fills up. We all have such a cup. In pursuit of the next wish, and next wish, we sacrifice our health, youth, beauty and happiness into it. This cup swallows our peace of mind, numbs the joy of life and eventually if we don't realize it ourselves - it wastes our whole life...
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@ivanovzlatan
Source: Picture from Google Images, Fable is from an unknown source
I guess this nice parable might serve as an illustration of an aspect of dukkha, a buddhist concept which roughly translates as one's suffering from clinging onto impermanent things and from the ultimately insatiable nature of our desires. These notions are basic tenets of most buddhist traditions which propose some form of abnegate and ascetic attitude in order to overcome dukkha and escape samsara, the karmic cycle of death and rebirth.
From a philosophical point of view, dukkha is an interesting and insightful concept. Many people do draw suffering from being overly attached to something or from having an overachieving, greedy or whimsical attitude. The things we get attached to will invariable be lost someday, with their loss causing us pain. Any unattained desired or unachieved goal is a constant source of frustration and disappointment, again causing us pain. Being able to acknowledge if and how these basic mechanisms are influencing our lives might be a starting point for reevaluating some attitudes and maybe to gradually adopt a more balanced state of mind.
The king's father in the story has taken the radical path of renouncing to any material thing beyond basic needs, and he is trying to warn his son about how one can never be truly satisfied. This is a very typical buddhist message. However, I believe that the key for dealing with dukkha is not necessarily to become an ascetic, but to be conscious of the way we are affected by attachments and desires, and with that consciousness finding a balanced attitude that allows us to really enjoy life to its fullest. Some may end up deciding that theirs is the ascetic way, but for most people I believe it is mostly a matter of adjusting attitudes and expectations.
This is a great contribution to the story, @jmorais! I totally agree that one shouldn't necessarily become and ascetic, but to be aware of this constant need and to find the balance.
Very interesting, I'll be following you for more :)