The Chinese farmer

A poor farmer in China was in great distress. He was a peace loving sort of person who had to share a single room with four noisy room-mates...

A poor farmer in China was in great distress. He was a peace loving sort of person who had to share a single room with four noisy room-mates. Besides, there were a couple of stray dogs and a few noisy chickens and ducks in the neighbourhood that made it difficult for him to sit quietly or meditate.

Depressed that he could not get over this noise pollution, he travelled a long distance to his Zen master to find a way out.

Listening to his tale of woe, the compassionate Master said: ‘‘If you listen to me carefully, I can try to see what we can do.’’ The farmer was all ears. The Master said: ‘‘Go back to your village and invite inside your room the stray dogs, the chickens as well as the ducks. Let them all stay with you for a week besides your four friends. Then come back to me.’’ Although he was shocked and surprised by his Master’s strange prescription, the farmer reluctantly agreed to do as he was asked.

Story continues below this ad

The farmer came after a week. He was in a pitiable state; his hair was dishevelled, his clothes were torn in shreds, his eyes were red from lack of sleep and his body smelt of animal dung. He looked tearfully at his Master and said, ‘‘The experience was worse than hell — those animals and birds and their week-long company … let my fate not befall anyone!

The Master said: ‘‘Everything will be all right. Just go back to your village and leave the animals outside your door — where they were before. Then, come back to me after another seven days.’’ The farmer again did what he was told. But this time when he came back — there was a bright radiance in his face. His eyes shone and he told the Master, ‘‘I have never known so much peace before. Just my four friends and I. No animals in the room. We all slept well. And my meditation was deep.’’

Many years later, the farmer himself became a Master. When people asked him how he had found peace, he said: ‘‘The journey was indeed memorable. It was like taking great pains to break into your own house by climbing a ladder and smashing a windowpane — and realising later that the door of the house was open. All you needed to do was to pull in the door towards you rather than put it.

The farmer in the story discovers something that was always present as reality. Peace always existed as a possibility in his own mind. In the process of this discovery he transforms himself. As a voyager said, ‘‘We do not discover new land, we discover the old land with new eyes!’’

Story continues below this ad

(Extracted from ‘Light the Fire in Your Heart’, Full Circle, 2003)

Donald Trump may replace H-1B lottery with wage-based selection process

World10 hr ago

Days after hiking the fees for new H-1B applications to $100,000, the Donald Trump administration has proposed to overhaul the visa process for high-skilled non-immigrant workers. The Trump administration has suggested a wage-based selection process for the H-1B programme, instead of the current lottery system.

View all shorts

Live Blog