It's Easier Than You Think by Sylvia Boorstein

Author:Sylvia Boorstein [Boorstein, Sylvia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Buddhism, Not Read
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1995-11-04T04:00:00+00:00

The Antidote to Lust: Sylvia’s Buddhist Version of Eve’s Version of Zalman’s Story

This is a fable that explains how the difficult mind energy of lust can be overcome by concentration practice. As is the custom in storytelling, this fable has gone through various transitions as it has been retold by each new storyteller. I don’t know its origin, but I received it from my friend Eve, who heard it from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, so it now becomes a Buddhist story with Hasidic ancestry.

Once upon a time, before we all were wise, in a land where there were still beautiful princesses whose hearts were asleep and ordinary men of narrow vision, a young man fell in love with a princess from afar. His lust for her filled his mind. He was convinced that they would meet and marry. He imagined the many children that she would bear that he would sire.

One day the princess and her retinue passed in royal parade, and the young man, his limited vision further obscured by his lust, burst through the crowd, fell at her feet, and exclaimed, “When will we be together?” The princess, in complete disdain, replied, “In the cemetery!” by which she meant, “Never in this lifetime, you fool!” The young man took her words seriously, went directly to the cemetery, and waited.

He waited and waited and waited, oblivious to time, with singularity of purpose and steadfastness of heart.

And, as he waited …

his mind became so steady and so single focused that it filled with rapture and light, dispelling all aversion and particularity, and he loved everyone, all beings, without reserve. And people felt his love and came to him for blessings.

And, as he waited …

he met Death. Indeed, Death was his most frequent visitor, coming as it did at all hours, bringing with it all manner of folk, old and young, rich and poor, attractive and unattractive, loved and unloved. With absolute clarity, the young man awoke to the fleetingness of life, to the inexorable march of time. He awoke to the suffering of beings grasping endlessly at the ghosts of empty experience. And he became wise. And people felt his wisdom and came to him for blessings.

The princess, now married, was childless, and hearing about a sage renowned for blessings, came to ask to be granted a child. And the man, in the boundless happiness of freedom, called forth the intercession of all the wish grantors on all the realms, and she became the mother of many children.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.