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An Appointment With Buddha At the Top of The Mountain.

An appointment with Buddha at the top of the Mountain.

“No matter how spectacular the valleys are, the mountains will always attract us! “―Mehmet Murat ildan

An Appointment With Buddha At the Top of The Mountain.

There’s a great parable about two monks who were told if they study long and hard enough, they’ll be able to― one day, have an appointment with Buddha, at the top of the Mountain.

And so of course, they want that; so they started studying. Working very hard. Then one day, they looked at each other, and said, “I think we’re ready.”

And so they pack up their stuff, and begin to climb up this mountain.

But halfway up the mountain trail, one of them breaks his leg.

Now they’re forced to spend the night resting.

The one who wasn’t injured looked after the other monk.

Cared for him.

Tending to his needs.

All the while hoping his buddy would make a full recovery by tomorrow morning, just so they could both keep their appointment with Buddha, at the top of the mountain.

Well, the morning came in, (and you’ve guessed it) the one who broke his leg isn’t doing so well.

He has a fever.

Now the assignment is far more difficult, given It’s not simple to simply leave him to venture on a guaranteed appointment with Buddha, at the top of the mountain.

When ever I look at a mountain, I see that it is the perfect metaphor for life. From a distance, the climb looks clear and smooth. But once you actually set-out for the summit, you discover unexpected challenges and detours along the way. If your internal compass isn’t set to keep climbing, then every stumble may give you an excuse to turn back. Now imagine being in such situations, what do you do?

Do you leave your broken other, to keep your appointment at the top of the mountain, or do you return to the valley?

Truth is, it doesn’t really matter because sooner or later you’ll have to seek lower ground.

As the Turkish playwright, Mehmet Ildan points out, “No matter how beautiful the summit is, you will return to the valley.”

“To study Buddhism,” says Zen teacher Dōgen, “is to study the self.

To study the self is to forget the self.

To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.”

And so when we have more people who would realize that caring for their broken others is the summit, then that’s when we’ll begin to cultivate a culture and society that promotes more compassion.

This leaves us with another question, which is:

Do we work for what we want, or do we work with what we’re given?

Generally you’ll realize that working for what you want, often becomes a training period for working with what you’ve been given.

Thank you for reading.

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Herbygee