Zen Stories: Maybe

This is the story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “Maybe,” the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “Maybe,” replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “Maybe,” answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “Maybe,” said the farmer.

This little Zen Story shows that when we interpret a situation as an ‘opportunity’ or a ‘disaster’ it shapes our emotions and the ways that we respond. But the story of the farmer shows that we can never truly know how a situation is going to turn out.

The fact is, there are no intrinsic ‘opportunities’ or ‘threats’: there is only what has happened and how we choose to respond. 

No event, in and of itself, can truly be judged as good or bad, lucky or unlucky, fortunate or unfortunate. Only with time is the whole story made clear. We can get some space between the story and reality and it might reduce stress and/or help us move through life with more grace. Farmer here literally does not care what happens. He doesn't divide Life into good events and bad events, like piles of laundry. He experiences Life as one thing: undifferentiated energy/consciousness.

Photo via @mionomichi