"A man was forcing his way through a thick forest beset
with thorns and stones. Suddenly to his great consternation, an elephant
appeared and gave chase. He took to his heels through fear, and seeing a well,
he ran to hide in it. But to his horror he saw a viper at the bottom of the
well. However, lacking other means of escape, he jumped into that well, and
clung to a thorny creeper that was growing in it. Looking up, he saw two
mice--a white one and a black one--gnawing at the creeper. Over his face there
was a beehive from which occasional drops of honey trickled.
This man, foolishly unmindful of this precarious position,
was greedily tasting the honey. A kind person volunteered to show him a path of
escape. But the greedy man begged to be excused till he had enjoyed himself.
The thorny path is Samsara, the ocean of life. Man's life is
not a bed of roses. It is beset with difficulties and obstacles to overcome,
with opposition and unjust criticism, with attacks and insults to be borne.
Such is the thorny path of life.
The elephant here resembles death; the viper, old age; the
creeper, birth; the two mice, night and day. The drop of honey corresponds to
the fleeting sensual pleasures. The man represents the so-called being.
The temporary material happiness is merely the gratification
of some desire. When the desired thing is gained, another desire arises.
In satiate are all desires.
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