Acceptance (wisdom stories)
The weeds
Once the Mullah tried gardening.
He planted all sorts of seeds in his garden
and waited for the beautiful flowers to spring up and bloom.
A few did come up.
But alas, the garden was mostly filled with unsightly weeds.
They grew more quickly than the flowers.
And they too budded. bloomed. and distributed wafts of seed.
In desperation the Mullah made his way to the palace
to consult with the palace gardener.
This man was known for his skill with plants.
“I have tried everything,” complained the Mullah.
“I pull them out.
l hoe them out.
I plant more flower seeds.
And what do l end up with?
Weeds! Weeds! Weeds!”
The gardener considered all this for a while.
Then he offered his wise advice:
“I think the best thing for you to do …
is learn to love the weeds.”
Source : Margaret Read MacDonald
The dandelions
A man who took great pride in his lawn found himself with a large crop of dandelions. He tried every method he knew to get rid of them. Still they plagued him. Finally he wrote the department of agriculture. He enumerated all the things he had tried and closed his letter with the question: “What shall I do now?” In due course the reply came: “We suggest you learn to love them.”
Source: Anthony de Mello
Is that so?
The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child
This made her parents very angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.
In great anger the parents went to the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say.
When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care of the child since it was his responsibility. “Is that so?” Hakuin said calmly as he accepted the child.
A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth – that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket.
The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.
Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?”
Stay in the desert
“Why do you live in the desert?”
“Because I can’t be what I want to be. When I begin to be myself, people treat me with a reverence that’s false. When I am true to my faith, then they begin to doubt. They all believe they are holier than I, but they pretend they are sinners, afraid to insult my solitude. They try all the time to show that they consider me a saint, and in this way they become emissaries of the devil, tempting me with Pride.”
“Your problem isn’t trying to be who you are, but accepting others the way they are. And acting in this way, it’s better to stay in the desert,” said the gentleman, walking off.