There once was a Martial Arts Master who was famous for uncommon knowledge and wisdom.  Many contemporaries of his day believed that this Master possessed a special insight into the nature of heaven and hell.

A rogue Samurai, while traveling near the Master's village, decided to visit, hoping to gain the Master's special enlightenment.  The Samurai found the Master in seated meditation enjoying the peace and serenity of his rose garden.  Dressed in formal attire, with his sword at his side, the Samurai loudly and boastfully announced himself to the Master.

"I have come to learn about the nature of heaven and hell!"  The master turned abruptly to the Samurai and responded, "How do you expect me to impart any enlightenment to one who is as angry and self-serving as you?"

Visibly insulted and clearly and angry, the Samurai stepped back, drawing his sword into the attack position.  "I should kill you where you stand, old man!"

The master gently smiled and said, "This is Hell!"

Embarrassed by his own reactive, violent behavior, the Samurai sheathed his sword and bowed deeply to the Master.

The wise Master responded, "This, my friend, is Heaven!"

            This is a wonderful Zen story as told by Dr. Foley in his newly released book, Ancient Wisdom for Life Fulfillment - Inspiring All Individuals to Live Peaceful and Compassionate Lives.  In this story, there are many inspiring life lessons, the most obvious of which is the importance of controlling our own emotions, especially our anger.  In the story the rogue Samurai approaches his interaction with the martial arts master in a very prideful, egotistical, disrespectful manner and in doing so provides the master with the opportunity to teach him through his actions the meaning of hell.  The master teaches the Samurai that when we approach our interactions with pride, arrogance, and disrespect we often provoke conflict with those with whom we interact.  Approaching our relationships in this manner more often than not results in disrespect being reciprocated, which results in escalating conflict.  When the master confronts the Samurai with the observation that he is angry and egotistical, the highly trained Samurai loses control of his emotions and becomes even angrier.  As the master points out, this is a miserable position to find ourselves in and a very unhappy way to live our lives.  If instead, we strive to mindfully live our lives and approach all of our interactions without pride or ego and instead show respect and compassion we will discover that these actions and behaviors are likewise reciprocated to us and we have the opportunity to experience heaven on earth. 

            We are all human and therefore we are all in a constant battle to mindfully control the striving of our egos to feel important and respected.  As you can see from this Zen story being respected can only be accomplished through our own capacity to respect ourselves and express our respect to others.  When we observe and approach the world from the skewed perspective of the ego, we will fall into the trap of feeling as if we should be treated with respect because of who we are and how important we perceive ourselves to be.  With this prideful, arrogant attitude we are exhibiting disrespect to those with whom we interact and we are therefore more likely to unintentionally initiate conflict within our interactions.

            Instead, I challenge each of us to strive to live by the ancient concept of "muga" or no ego which allows us to consistently see our relationships from the other person's perspective and allows us to initiate mutually respectful interactions.  By doing so, we will foster collaborative, productive and satisfying relationships within our lives, which according to the master, is heaven on earth.

KAIZEN!!!!

If you would like to order Ancient Wisdom for Life Fulfillment - Inspiring All Individuals to Live Peaceful and Compassionate Lives by Michael R. Foley, M.D. please contact me at the email address listed below.