December 29, 2020

Ten years ago I published a small book of stories. Stories from cultures around the world, selected and edited to reflect one of the lines of a prayer that has been a fundamental part of my spiritual community’s dharma for decades.

In this season of celebrating the Light, I would love to share some those stories with you. Let’s begin with this one from Persia….and my light bring comfort.

       A monk and his student were walking along a narrow, quiet country road deep in conversation when they looked up to see a cloud of dust in the distance. As they continued the cloud grew larger. Approaching at full gallop was a band of warriors richly dressed and heavily armored. When the riders were almost upon them, the two realized the warriors had no intention of slowing down and so threw themselves off the road landing in the ditch.
       As the band passed the student jumped to his feet shouting curses to the warriors. But his angry words were cut short by the sight of the old monk running after the riders calling, “May all of your deepest desires be satisfied!”
       The student was stunned. “How could you possibly wish anything good for those men? They paid us no notice. They forced us off the road. We could have been seriously injured.”
       “Do you really think,” replied the old monk, “that if their deepest desires were satisfied, they would go around treating others as they treated us?”

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com