One day Buddha was sitting in the wood with thirty or forty monks. They had an
excellent lunch and they were enjoying the company of each other. There was a
farmer passing by and the farmer was very unhappy. He asked the Buddha and the
monks whether they had seen his cows passing by. The Buddha said they had not
seen any cows passing by.
The farmer
said, "Monks, I'm so unhappy. I have twelve cows and I don't know why they
all ran away. I have also a few acres of a sesame seed plantation and the
insects have eaten up everything. I suffer so much I think I am going to kill
myself.
The Buddha
said, "My friend, we have not seen any cows passing by here. You might
like to look for them in the other direction."
So the
farmer thanked him and ran away, and the Buddha turned to his monks and said,
"My dear friends, you are the happiest people in the world. You don't have
any cows to lose. If you have too many cows to take care of, you will be very
busy.
"That
is why, in order to be happy, you have to learn the art of cow releasing
(laughter). You release the cows one by one. In the beginning you thought that
those cows were essential to your happiness, and you tried to get more and more
cows. But now you realize that cows are not really conditions for your happiness;
they constitute an obstacle for your happiness. That is why you are determined
to release your cows."
(Told by
Master Thich Nhat Hanh)
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