Buddha Speaks – Look To Yourself First

A picture of the Golden Buddha from Microsoft Clip Art

 

We all know fear in some form.  Many of us, when we feel fear, blame the object of our fear as being the source of our fear. 

Here is an interesting story for contemplation. It is about a young monk who feels fear.

 

                                  Spider

A Tibetan story tells of a meditation student who, while meditating in his room, believed he saw a spider descending in front of him. Each day the menacing creature returned, growing larger and larger each time. So frightened was the student, that he went to his teacher to report his dilemma. He said he planned to place a knife in his lap during meditation, so when the spider appeared he would kill it. The teacher advised him against this plan. Instead, he suggested, bring a piece of chalk to meditation, and when the spider appeared, mark an "X" on its belly. Then report back.

The student returned to his meditation. When the spider again appeared, he resisted the urge to attack it, and instead did just what the master suggested. When he later reported back to the master, the teacher told him to lift up his shirt and look at his own belly. There was the "X".

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The beauty of this little story is that it shows us that we can be afraid of Nature (spider), especially if we are afraid of our own nature – perhaps what one would call the “dark side”.  Buddhist practice is all about going inside one’s self to contemplate life, rather than going to the external objects in our life.  The external items/people/circumstances are not there to blame; they are there to mirror our “stuff” back to us.  This story does that mirroring remarkably well.

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Judy@angelsandancestors.com   See the April Magazine online at  www.angelsandancestors.com/newsletter/mag1004.pdf .  See www.thestoryoflight.com for Roger’s new book The Story of Light Volume 11: Through Heaven’s Gate.