WORDS ARE POWERFUL – THEY CAN MAKE OR BREAK A PERSON
Master Jun Hong Lu: A group of people went up the mountain for a hunting trip. Unfortunately, one of the hunters fell into a very deep pit. During the fall, he broke all of his limbs except his left arm.
The pit was deep and to make matters worse, the wall was extremely steep, rendering the rest of the hunters helpless. All that they could do was to shout to him from above. The only saving grace was the overgrown rattan and grass that covered the wall of the pit. An idea struck the injured hunter. Using his left arm, he held on to the wall of the pit, while sinking his teeth deep into the thick vegetation to slowly make his way up.
With visibility obscured, the rest of the hunters were clueless about what had befallen him. All that they could do was shout, “Hurry! Climb your way up”.
When it became clear to the rest about how precarious his situation was, their angst started to simmer. Unable to hold it any longer, one of them burst out and said, “There’s absolutely no way that he’s able to get out of the pit”. This immediately triggered a heated discussion among this group of hunters.
Another one chipped in, “His situation is indeed dire with most of his limbs crippled”. The third hunter added, “Exactly! From what I see, it’s impossible for the grass to support his body weight”.
Another then upped the ante and said, “What a pity! If he dies from the fall, he will not be able to relish his riches at all”. “Gosh, what about his aged mother and wife?”
Upon hearing their bickering, he burst out and opened his mouth before shouting at them, “I want all of you to shut your mouth”.
Right at this moment, his mouth let go of the grip on the grass, causing him to crash all the way to the bottom of the pit.
Lying at the bottom of the pit and drawing in his last breath, he heard the rest of the hunters unanimously say, “This is exactly what I’ve said, it’s impossible to use your mouth to climb your way out from the pit”.
This story teaches us two lessons. First, only loving-kindness and care are capable of saving a troubled soul. When encountering someone in distress or stuck in an unpleasant situation, we must show compassion and loving care for them.
Similarly, we must show concern and care towards those who are stricken with illnesses. By doing so, we are essentially extending them a lifeline. On the contrary, if you keep talking and criticising them, you will only cause them to plunge to the depth of their predicaments.
Second, when difficulties are upon us and we are at a critical juncture of our lives, we should not take others’ comments to heart. Instead, we should strengthen our resolve to bring ourselves out of the predicament. Only through perseverance can we surmount the challenges in life, because the moment you give up, you plummet into new depths of depravity and that is the most dreadful thing that could ever happen.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s World Buddhist Fellowship Meeting, Paris, France, 6 September 2019
< About Spiritual Cultivation