Two monks have been washing their ft in a river after they noticed a scorpion struggling within the water. Realizing that scorpions can’t swim, the elder monk knelt right down to scoop it out of the water and set it on the shore. As he slowly and calmly picked up the scorpion, it stung his hand. Out of ache and reflex, the monk dropped the scorpion. He then tried once more a pair extra occasions, however sooner. Nevertheless, he nonetheless received stung and dropped the scorpion. He then informed the youthful monk to convey him a tree department from the shore. Utilizing that department, he managed to scoop the scorpion out of the water and set it on shore.
The youthful monk requested, “Why did you retain attempting to avoid wasting the scorpion when it stung you so many occasions? What an ungrateful creature.”
The elder monk replied, “If I enter the water, I’ll get moist; the character of water is moist. See that tree over there? Anybody can sit below its shade. The tree won’t ever ask if you’re younger or outdated, good or evil, human or animal; it should present everybody and something with its shade as a result of that is its nature. Equally, the character of the scorpion is to sting, so there’s nothing to take offence in. Our true nature is to be compassionate in direction of all residing beings, similar to the tree serves all residing beings with out discrimination. Once we align with our true nature, we’ll free our minds from the struggling that comes with discrimination and attachment.”
Commentary
This parable has completely different variations on the web, and above is a model that I’ve synthesized and edited. The story has various meals for thought and may be contemplated from completely different angles.
1: Compassion
First is from the attitude of compassion. Most of us have conditional love in direction of folks: “If you’re good, if I such as you, in the event you behave the best way I would like you to behave, then I’ll deal with you effectively; in any other case, I will likely be sad in direction of you.” Compassion, however, is unconditional love: “It does not matter who you might be or what you do, I’ll all the time deal with you effectively, attempt to perceive you, and make it easier to obtain your full potential.”
As talked about in final week’s article, compassion advantages ourselves first as a result of it’s an elevated emotional state, as proven on this chart:
Supply: Changing into Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza
Whereas the survival feelings (e.g., ache, worry, anger) on the backside are all overly hooked up to I, elevated motions (e.g., love/compassion, freedom, appreciation) all dampen the attachment to I and focus extra on others. Once we really feel survival feelings, we really feel harassed. Once we are in an elevated state, we really feel a way of calm happiness and ease.
Monks are all the time cultivating their thoughts to take care of a state of serenity and compassion, so when the elder monk noticed the drowning scorpion, he naturally felt compassion in direction of it. He did not suppose, “It is a scorpion. Scorpions are dangerous. I do not like scorpions.” If we now have sturdy discriminations between what we like and dislike, then we create pointless struggling for ourselves. The monk had equal compassion for all residing beings, so he might preserve his serene way of thinking.
When the scorpion repeatedly stung his hand, he did not suppose “What an ungrateful creature! I am attempting that will help you, and also you sting me?!” Compassion is much like parental love: Even when a baby is naughty, does dangerous issues, argues with mother and father, and hurts mother and father emotions, the mother or father in the end nonetheless loves the kid and believes within the kid’s goodness and potential. Equally, the monk understood that the scorpion stung him out of worry and anxiousness, so he felt did not blame the scorpion and continued to strive to reserve it.
When we now have battle with others, we are able to mirror on whether or not we really perceive the opposite particular person, and whether or not we’re utilizing conditional love or compassion.
2: Knowledge
One other perception from this story is the significance of knowledge. We have in all probability all had the expertise of wanting to assist others, however after we tried to assist, we ended up creating extra bother for everybody. It is like when the elder monk tried to choose up the scorpion and received stung, thereby hurting himself and bringing no profit to the scorpion.
So how can we acquire knowledge? A technique is in fact to review books of knowledge, comparable to these of historic philosophers. I beforehand wrote about this within the article Improve Your Pondering. However within the story, the elder monk gained knowledge by way of his honest compassion.
Honest means single-minded and unchanging, whereas compassion means solely enthusiastic about benefiting others. Because the monk was single-mindedly targeted on serving to the scorpion, he did not quit after the primary few failures. Since he wasn’t all in favour of giving up, he regularly seemed for methods to enhance his methodology, till he lastly had a breakthrough: discover a tree department to scoop the scorpion.
Equally, we are able to mirror on ourselves after we encounter issues. Are we single-mindedly targeted and decided to unravel it? Or do we expect this drawback is not actually that large of a deal? Are we targeted on serving to others, or are we overly hooked up to our personal emotions?
3: Ache vs. Struggling
When the elder monk received stung by the scorpion, he certainly felt ache, however I do not suppose he skilled struggling. Ache is bodily, whereas struggling is psychological. I am reminded of this quote from Stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius:
“Cast off the opinion I’m harmed, and the hurt is forged away too.”
The massive query is, how can we “get rid of the opinion that I’m harmed”? It is all about how we expect. I like Victor Cheng’s definition of “struggling” as “meaningless ache”, which implies that if we are able to discover that means in our ache, then we not really feel sad. Actually, we are able to even respect ache much like how an athlete appreciates rising pains.
If we need to enhance in life, which is a joyful factor, then we have to face exams and challenges. Monks try to domesticate serenity and compassion, so when the elder monk encountered the scorpion that stung him, he seen it as a very good check to assist him increase his cultivation fairly than as misfortune. If he had gotten upset and given up, then his cultivation would have degenerated. He might then thank the scorpion for exhibiting him his lack of cultivation. However he maintained his cultivation and overcame the problem, so he can thank the scorpion for serving to him to extend his degree of cultivation.
We in all probability all face challenges and ache in our lives, however we do not essentially should undergo. We are able to discover that means in our challenges and use our ache as motivation for our self-improvement and for serving to others to keep away from the ache we have been by way of. Once we achieve this, we are able to change our emotional state from struggling (a low state) to appreciation (a excessive state).
Conclusion
Though we would not actually be a monk, and we would not ever see a drowning scorpion, the metaphorical classes of this story are extremely related to us. Do we now have conditional love or unconditional compassion? Are we honest or fickle? Will we undergo within the face of ache and challenges, or do we discover that means and enhance from them?
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