![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/924.jpg?resize=211%2C141\")
\nHe, a stone-cutter, saw
\na rich man gathering many luxuries,
\nand wished to be like him.
\nSuddenly, he became him.<\/p>\n
\nHe, a stone-cutter, saw
\na rich man gathering many luxuries,
\nand wished to be like him.
\nSuddenly, he became him.<\/p>\n
He saw
\na high official getting much respect,
\nand wished to be like him.
\nSuddenly, he became him.<\/p>\n
He saw
\nthe hot sun making him sweat,
\nand wished to be like it,
\nSuddenly, he became it.<\/p>\n
He saw
\na dark cloud blocking his light,
\nand wished to be like it.
\nSuddenly, he became it.<\/p>\n
He saw
\na strong wind blowing him aside,
\nand wished to be like it.
\nSuddenly, he became it.<\/p>\n
He saw
\na huge mountain blocking his might,
\nand wished to be like it.
\nSuddenly, he became it.<\/p>\n
He saw
\na small stone-cutter chipping his body,
\nand wished to be like him.
\nSuddenly, he became him (again).<\/p>\n
Notes:<\/strong>\u00a0The retold story of the stone-cutter reminds us of the interdependent cycle of worth, of how even the humblest can be the most powerful. The stone-cutter was not truly weak, but weak only from his discontent, from wanting to satisfy his craving for power. Whatever our station in life is, we are like the stone-cutter. How about re-writing the story with you in it, to see how you are already powerful enough in your own right? True power, however, is from having and using great and selfless compassion and wisdom, not from any egoistic self-serving power.<\/span><\/p>\n Buddhism speaks of the worldly Five Desires, for wealth, sex, fame (status and power), food and sleep. With wealth, it is not difficult to satisfy the other four desires. These Five Desires all fall short of the noblest desire – for Enlightenment, based on Bodhicitta, the aspiration to guide one and all to it.\u00a0<\/span>All other non-spiritual desires are cyclical, ultimately pointless.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Benjamin Hoff’s retelling of the classic Chinese story in ‘The Tao Of Pooh’:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n There was once a stonecutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life.\u00a0One day, he passed a wealthy merchant’s house and through the open gateway saw many fine possessions and important visitors.<\/p>\n “How powerful that merchant must be!” thought the stonecutter. He became very envious, and wished that he could be like the merchant. Then he would no longer have to live the life of a mere stonecutter.<\/p>\n To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever dreamed of, envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. But soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants, and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession.<\/p>\n “How powerful that official is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a high official!”\u00a0Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around, who had to bow down before him as he passed. It was a hot summer day, and the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence.<\/p>\n “How powerful the sun is!” he thought. ”\u00a0I wish that I could be the sun!”\u00a0Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and labourers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below.<\/p>\n “How powerful that storm cloud is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a cloud!”\u00a0Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind.<\/p>\n “How powerful it is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be the wind!”\u00a0Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, hated and feared by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it — a huge, towering stone.<\/p>\n “How powerful that stone is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a stone!”\u00a0Then he became the stone, more powerful than anything else on earth.\u00a0But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the solid rock and felt himself being changed. \u00a0“What could be more powerful than I, the stone?” he thought. \u00a0He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stonecutter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" He, a stone-cutter, saw a rich man gathering many luxuries, and wished to be like him. Suddenly, he became him….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[43,57,377,444,80,194,112,114,58],"class_list":["post-10962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mix","tag-bodhicitta","tag-compassion","tag-contentment","tag-desire","tag-greed","tag-humility","tag-power","tag-wealth","tag-wisdom","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}