One day a King left his palace for a horseback ride and after riding for several hours became lost in a deep and almost impenetrable jungle.
Reining his horse, he looked about him and was terror stricken as he saw a tiger coming towards him. He leapt from his horse, quickly climbed a nearby tree and sat on one of its branches.
The tiger came to the same tree and sat on his haunches, waiting to devour the King whenever he came down. Seeing this, the King began to test the branch on which he was sitting to make certain it was strong enough to bear his weight.
However as he looked along its length he was filled with fear, for he saw that two mice, one white and the other black, were gnawing away the inner end of the branch where it joined the tree.
He looked down at the ground to see where he would fall when the branch gave way, and whether the earth below was hard or soft. But here another terrifying sight met his gaze.
Beside the tiger, there was a huge python with its jaws wide open, waiting for him to fall. The King trembled with fright because his situation was so desperate.
As he clung to the branch wondering what he might do to save himself, he suddenly saw that honey was dripping from a branch above his head. He began to lick it and as he did so the honey had an amazing effect.
The king, absorbed in it's sweetness, soon became completely oblivious of his danger. The tiger, the mice and the python, were all forgotten as he became more and more enchanted with the taste of the marvellous honey.
In a short time, of course, the mice gnawed through the branch. It fell to the ground, and the king, with a happy smile on his lips, was killed.
The tree up which the King climbed in his search for safety symbolizes this world, the dense and dark material universe.
The tiger represents death, which eats every living creature born into this world. The python is the grave.
The branch on which the King sat represents the span of our life, whether it be ten, twenty or fifty years or more. And the two mice are day and night, which inevitably shorten the span of life.
The honey symbolizes this world and it's ephemeral pleasures, in which we become so completely absorbed that we forget even death.
The result of becoming absorbed in the worldly pleasures is that, like the King, we die without discovering the true purpose of our life.
Source: Eastern Mystics
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2 comments:
I have a teenage son who is in a rehab center recovering from drug and alcohol abuse. He has found that items both written and verbal such as those found on your website, are the best tools he has to fight the doubt that arises as he makes his journey down the road to sobriety. I searched the net looking for spiritual quotes, etc... and found yours'. I will print them and give them to him the next time we visit. Thank you for spreading such positive thinking.
T T
Sioux City, Iowa
Your page is very well put together. I like the stories very much. May the Lord Bless you through this ministry, and may you grow closer to Him Because of it!
Candyce
NC
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