05-24-2010, 12:00 AM
I attend a spiritualist church and went this am. The guest speaker told this story, so thought I would share it.
A young man is born into a wealthy family. He always had everything he needed, and then some. His parents die, and he squanders the money away. Buying friends cars, spending money on all sorts of things. After a few years, hes penniless. He loses his homes, his friends abandon him. He ends up with nothing.
So he goes to a bridge with a very fast stream, and decides hes going to jump and end his life. As hes standing there, he begins to lift a leg up to jump. He hears footsteps coming closer. He puts his legs back down, pretends hes just hanging over the railing, looking on. He decides hes going to wait til the person goes. Then jump.
The footsteps get closer, and closer. Then he looks and its a monk. The monk asks him if he was thinking about jumping. He admits his folly and says yes. Begins to tell the whole story, in how he blew away his money, lost all his friends and has nothing. The monk says, travel with me, and we will meet my master, he will tell you what to do...
So the young man travels with the monk for two years, learning from him, living a different life. Then one day, they approach a hill with a large temple. They go up, and into the temple, and find sitting in the middle of the floor, of one of the rooms, a simple looking old man. The monk says, "this is my master."
The young man approaches the master, tells his story, and says he wants to be his disciple. The old man listens, attentively, then says, "No, you are not ready." The young man pleads with him, "Please take me as a disciple, Ive come a long way, Ive wanted this for so long." So the monk thinks for a bit, and says, "What are you good at?"
The young man thinks. And thinks. And thinks. All he was good at was spending money. He had never been good at anything in his life. Then finally, he remembers, and says, "Well, Im good at chess."
The old master then claps his hands twice, and two monks appear. He says to them, "Go get a chessboard, and my sword."
The monks return with a chessboard, and a sword. He sets them down on the table, and calls over a young monk, who sits down at the table.
"The winner of this game will be my disciple, and the loser, I will take his head."
The young man sits down with the monk, and begins playing.
He begins focusing like he's never focused before. Every single move he takes his time. He plays for two hours, some pieces lost here, pieces lost there, but he begins to see, he can win the game.
But then, he begins to feel for the young monk. Hes young, has his whole life ahead of him, and if he wins, the monk will die. He begins to remember being at the bridge, and how he was going to end his life. He begins to feel compassion for the monk. That he couldnt live with himself, if he won and was responsible for his death.
So he decides he's going to lose the game, but carefully to not be obvious. He begins to lose pieces a bit here, a bit there. Very carefully. Then the game is over, and he lost. The young monk won the game.
The master unsheaths his sword, and takes it down, *thump* and splits the chessboard in two. Then sheaths his sword.
He then tells the young man, "You have demonstrated to me two things in order to become a disciple. Focus, and compassion. I will take you as a disciple." And from that day on, the young man was a disciple of the master.
The moral of the story is, what we focus on, is where our attention goes. And we're capable of anything when we focus, and have compassion for our fellow man.
A young man is born into a wealthy family. He always had everything he needed, and then some. His parents die, and he squanders the money away. Buying friends cars, spending money on all sorts of things. After a few years, hes penniless. He loses his homes, his friends abandon him. He ends up with nothing.
So he goes to a bridge with a very fast stream, and decides hes going to jump and end his life. As hes standing there, he begins to lift a leg up to jump. He hears footsteps coming closer. He puts his legs back down, pretends hes just hanging over the railing, looking on. He decides hes going to wait til the person goes. Then jump.
The footsteps get closer, and closer. Then he looks and its a monk. The monk asks him if he was thinking about jumping. He admits his folly and says yes. Begins to tell the whole story, in how he blew away his money, lost all his friends and has nothing. The monk says, travel with me, and we will meet my master, he will tell you what to do...
So the young man travels with the monk for two years, learning from him, living a different life. Then one day, they approach a hill with a large temple. They go up, and into the temple, and find sitting in the middle of the floor, of one of the rooms, a simple looking old man. The monk says, "this is my master."
The young man approaches the master, tells his story, and says he wants to be his disciple. The old man listens, attentively, then says, "No, you are not ready." The young man pleads with him, "Please take me as a disciple, Ive come a long way, Ive wanted this for so long." So the monk thinks for a bit, and says, "What are you good at?"
The young man thinks. And thinks. And thinks. All he was good at was spending money. He had never been good at anything in his life. Then finally, he remembers, and says, "Well, Im good at chess."
The old master then claps his hands twice, and two monks appear. He says to them, "Go get a chessboard, and my sword."
The monks return with a chessboard, and a sword. He sets them down on the table, and calls over a young monk, who sits down at the table.
"The winner of this game will be my disciple, and the loser, I will take his head."
The young man sits down with the monk, and begins playing.
He begins focusing like he's never focused before. Every single move he takes his time. He plays for two hours, some pieces lost here, pieces lost there, but he begins to see, he can win the game.
But then, he begins to feel for the young monk. Hes young, has his whole life ahead of him, and if he wins, the monk will die. He begins to remember being at the bridge, and how he was going to end his life. He begins to feel compassion for the monk. That he couldnt live with himself, if he won and was responsible for his death.
So he decides he's going to lose the game, but carefully to not be obvious. He begins to lose pieces a bit here, a bit there. Very carefully. Then the game is over, and he lost. The young monk won the game.
The master unsheaths his sword, and takes it down, *thump* and splits the chessboard in two. Then sheaths his sword.
He then tells the young man, "You have demonstrated to me two things in order to become a disciple. Focus, and compassion. I will take you as a disciple." And from that day on, the young man was a disciple of the master.
The moral of the story is, what we focus on, is where our attention goes. And we're capable of anything when we focus, and have compassion for our fellow man.