PureInsight | March 16, 2008
[PureInsight.org] There was
once a man who had accomplished nothing in his life and was penniless
and frustrated. One night, he finally lost the courage to keep on
living and walked to the edge of a cliff and prepared to jump off.
Before committing suicide, he cried aloud bitterly and recalled in
detail the suffering and tribulations in his life. On a rock next to
the cliff lived a short tree. Upon hearing this person's experiences,
the tree also shed tears unconsciously. When the person saw the tree
crying, he asked: "You are crying. Are you possibly having the same
unfortunate experience as mine?"
The tree said: "I must be the least fortunate tree in this world. Look
at me, living in this gap amongst the rocks, having no soil to feed on
and no water to drink. I am lacking nutrition all year long. This harsh
environment has made my branches dry and unable to stretch, so my
appearance has been ugly since my birth. My shallow roots make me
barely able to stand in wind, and barely able to stay unfrozen in the
cold. I look incomparably strong, but actually my life is worse than
death."
The person couldn't help showing sympathy to the tree and said to the
tree: "If that's so, why do you still drag out an ignoble existence?
Let's die together."
The tree said: "It is easy for me to die, however, as there aren't any
other trees around here on this cliff, I cannot die." The person didn't
understand. The tree continued: "Do you see the bird nest on my head?
Two magpies built this nest and they have been living and have
multiplied here. If I am gone, where will these two magpies go?
The person seemed to have enlightened to something after hearing these words, and withdrew from the edge of the cliff.
In fact, every one of us lives not merely for himself. No matter how
trivial and humble a person is, he is still a big and tall tree for
others.
It is a little strange that sayings like "humans are selfish animals"
and "if a person is not for himself, he will be killed by heaven" have
become the golden laws that many people live by. In reality, however,
many lives are exactly the opposite. You can look around and find that
the following descriptions are more often what has happened to the
people surrounding you:
If a person lives solely himself, the wealthier he is, the more confused he is and the more worries he has in life.
A person who is living for others, even if he is poor and penniless, has a life that is much happier and more joyful.
What then is the happy life in your opinion?
Translated from:
http://xinsheng.net/xs/articles/gb/2008/2/29/42677.htm
