Letting go (wisdom stories)
Holding on all day
Two Zen monks, Tanzan and Ekido, were walking along a country road that had become extremely muddy after heavy rains. Near a village, they came upon a young woman who was trying to cross the road, but the mud was so deep it would have ruined the silk kimono she was wearing. Tanzan at once picked her up and carried her to the other side.
The monks walked on in silence. Five hours later, as they were approaching the lodging temple, Ekido couldn’t restrain himself any longer. “Why did you carry that girl across the road?” he asked. “We monks are not supposed to do things like that.”
“I put the girl down hours ago,” said Tanzan. “Are you still carrying her?”
Letting go of the jaggery
Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” C.S. Lewis
Jaggery is an unrefined sugar made from the sap of palm trees that is popular throughout Southern Asia. Jaggery is also the main ingredient used in traps to catch monkeys. To set up the trap, the hunter picks a coconut, removes the husk, punctures a hole in the bottom, and drinks the sweet coconut milk. Once empty, the top section of the coconut is chopped off (a narrow section that is a bit larger than the circumference of a monkey’s hand, allowing it to barely slide its hand inside). A rope is fed from the outside bottom hole through the coconut cavity, exiting at the top opening. A knot is tied (removing any rope above the knot). The opposite end of the rope is pulled until the knot rests tightly against the inside bottom of the coconut shell. A wood stake is then pounded securely into the ground. The exposed end of the rope is tied to the stake with about ten or twenty feet of ‘play.’ The stake and rope is then covered with fallen leaves and foliage. The sweet-smelling jaggery is placed inside the coconut along with rice and nuts. The hunter then finds a hiding place to wait for the monkey to take the bait.
Soon, the monkey will smell the jaggery and make its way over to the trap. It will place its mouth into the opening of the coconut and attempt to eat the tantalizing jaggery! However, unable to reach the jaggery with its mouth or tongue, the monkey will then place its hand into the coconut and grab as much of the jaggery mixture as possible. When the monkey tries to remove his handful of jaggery, he can’t. The opening at the top of the coconut is smaller than the expanded size of the monkey’s hand.
No matter how desperately the monkey pulls, jumps, screams, somersaults, and wrestles, his hand remains trapped. Ironically, all the monkey needs to do is to let go of the jaggery and pull his hand back out of the coconut to be set free. But, the monkey is fixated on the jaggery and won’t let go. As the hunter emerges, the terrified monkey continues to refuse to let go of the jaggery. The hunter simply walks up, throws a gunny-sack over the monkey and makes his capture. He then frees the monkey’s hand by breaking the coconut open to see the monkey continuing to hold the jaggery!
We may think the monkey is foolish, realizing how easy it could save itself if it would just let go of the jaggery. However, how often do we hold onto our own form of jaggery, just like a monkey? And once we have a hold of the jaggery and are unwilling to let go, we end up allowing ourselves to be captured, limiting our options in life. However, once we learn how to let go of the jaggery and free ourselves, we realize opportunities we never knew existed.
Identify the jaggery in your life, and then let it go! Free yourself today!
Source: Wisdom Share
Cut the rope
As the night fell heavy in the heights of the mountains a climber got lost and could not see anything. All was black and there was zero visibility. The moon and the stars were covered by the clouds. He continued climbing disorientated, but only a few feet away from the top of the mountain, suddenly he slipped and fell into the air, falling at great speed. He could only see black spots as he went down, and the terrible sensation of being sucked by gravity.
He kept falling, and in the moments of great fear, it came to his mind all the good and bad episodes of his life. He was thinking now about how close death was getting, when all of a sudden he felt the rope tied to his waist pull him very hard. His body was hanging in the air.
Only the rope was holding him and in that moment of stillness he had no other choice but to scream: “Help me God.”
All of a sudden a deep voice coming from the sky answered, “What do you want me to do?” “Save me God.” And God replied “Do you really think I can save you?” “Of course I believe You can.”
“Then cut the rope tied to your waist.”
There was a moment of silence and the man decided to hold on to the rope with all his strength. The next morning the rescue team reported that a climber was found dead and frozen, his body hanging from a rope. His hands holding tight to it. Only one foot away from the ground.
The folly of clinging
The little boy walked slowly into the room where his mother was sitting at her desk writing. She glanced down at him and saw that he was carrying a very precious vase that her grandmother had given her. Almost absentmindedly she said to him, “Robert, go put the vase down before you drop it and break it.”
“I can’t,” he replied, “I can’t get my hand out.”
“Of course you can,” she said, “you got it down there.”
He said, “I know, mom, but it won’t come out.” The neck of the vase was very narrow and his hand had fit it neatly inside and it was now up to his wrist. He continued to insist that he could not get it out. Growing a little concerned, his mother called out to his dad.
Dad calmly took control and began gently pulling the arm trying to extract the hand from the vase. He tried loosening it up with soapy water. Still nothing. He then got some vegetable oil from the kitchen and poured it around the wrist and let it seep into the vase. He wiggled it some. It still did not budge.
“I give up,” the dad said in desperation. “I’d give a dollar right now to know how to get it out.”
“Really?” little Robert exclaimed. Then they heard a clinking sound and his hand slid right out of the vase. They turned the vase upside down and a penny plopped out. “What’s this?” they said in unison.
“Oh, that’s the penny I put inside. I wanted to get it out so I was clutching it in my hand. But when I heard Dad say he would give a dollar to have the vase free, I let go.”
How often do we cling to things when they are nothing in comparison to what could be ours?
The trouble tree
The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start.
While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. Upon opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation. His tan face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.
Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier. “Oh, that’s my trouble tree”, he replied. ” I know I can’t help having troubles on the job, but one thing for sure, troubles don’t belong in the house with my wife and children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again.” “Funny thing is,” he smiled, “when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren’t nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.”
Hold it gently
When she was eleven years old, Anita went to her mother to complain. “I can’t manage to have friends. They all stay away from me because I’m so jealous.”
Her mother was taking care of newly-born chickens, and Anita held up one of them, which immediately tried to escape. The more the girl squeezed it in her hands, the more the chicken struggled.
Her mother said: “Try holding it gently.”
Anita obeyed her. She opened her hands and the chicken stopped struggling. She began to stroke it and the chicken cuddled up between her fingers.
“Human beings are like that too,” said her mother. “If you want to hold onto them by any means, they escape. But if you are kind to them, they will remain for ever by your side.”
The guru and the tree
“My dear spiritual master, you are capable of freeing your sincere students from the illusory entanglements of this world. Please, therefore, explain to me what is the nature of maya. ”
The guru paused for a moment, and gently replied, “I will tell you, my dear disciple, but not right now. The lesson will come when the time is right.”
The disciple was initially disappointed but had firm faith in the words of his guru. As the weeks and months passed, he forgot the incident. Then one day, as he was collecting dry wood in the forest for burning in the havan (the sacrificial fire), he suddenly heard his teacher’s unmistakable voice, “Help, help, let me go!” The disciple pelted in the direction of his guru’s voice. Thoughts tumbled through his mind. Had his spiritual mentor been attacked by a tiger? Had dacoits attacked the ashram? The piercing cry of his guru echoed throughout the forest. Sweat dripping from his forehead, the disciple pursued the cry for what seemed an age. He sped through the forest, unmindful of the stones and thorns.
“Help me! Please, help me. Let me go,” implored the voice.
Suddenly, the disciple broke through a clearing. There tightly embracing the trunk of a tree was his beloved spiritual master – still begging, “Let me go! Please, let me go!”
The Weight of the Glass
Once upon a time a psychology professor walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with students. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the typical “glass half empty or glass half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face, the professor asked, “How heavy is this glass of water I’m holding?”
Students shouted out answers ranging from eight ounces to a couple pounds.
She replied, “From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter. It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little. If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.”
As the class shook their heads in agreement, she continued, “Your stresses and worries in life are very much like this glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little. Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed — incapable of doing anything else until you drop them.”
The moral: It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses and worries. No matter what happens during the day, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the night and into the next day with you. If you still feel the weight of yesterday’s stress, it’s a strong sign that it’s time to put the glass down.