THE STONECUTTER

          There once was a stonecutter who went up to the mountains every day to cut stones and while he worked he sang, for though he was a poor man, he desired no more than he had, so he had not a care in the world.

          One day he was called to work on the mansion of a nobleman. When he saw the magnificence of the mansion, he experienced the pain of desire for the first time in his life and he said with a sigh, "If only I were rich! Then I would not have to earn my living in sweat and toil as I do now."  Imagine his astonishment when he heard a voice say, "Your wish has been granted. Henceforth, anything you desire will be given to you." He did not know what to make of the words until he returned to his hut that evening and found in its place a mansion as magnificent as the one he had been working on.  So the stonecutter gave up cutting stones and began to enjoy the life of a rich man.

          One day when the afternoon was hot and humid, he happened to look out his window and saw the King go by with a large retainer of noblemen and slaves.  He thought, "If only I were a King myself, sitting in the cool of the royal carriage!" His wish was promptly carried out and he found himself reclining in the comfort of the royal carriage.  But the carriage turned out to be warmer than he had assumed it to be.  He looked out of the carriage window and began to marvel at the power of the sun, whose heat could penetrate even the thick walls of the carriage. "If only I were as powerful as the sun," he said to himself.  Once again his wish was granted and he found himself sending out waves of light and heat into the universe.  All went well for a while.  Then on a rainy day, he attempted to pierce through a thick bank of clouds and could not.  So he got himself changed into a cloud and glorified in his power to keep the sun away -- till he turned into rain and found, to his annoyance, a mighty rock that blocked his path so he was obliged to flow around it.  "What?" he cried. "A mere rock is more powerful than I? "If only I were as strong as a rock." So there he was standing tall upon a mountainside.  He barely had time to rejoice in his fine figure when he heard strange chipping sounds emanating from his feet. He looked down and, to his dismay, found a tiny human being sitting there engaged in cutting chunks of stone from his feet.  "What?" he shouted. "A puny creature like this is more powerful than an imposing rock like me? If only I were a stonecutter!" So he found he was once again a stonecutter going up into the mountain to cut stone, earning his living in sweat and toil but with a song in his heart because he was content to be what he was and to live by what he had.

       When I reread this Zen story this week it struck a chord with me because over the past few weeks admittedly I have been living the life of a stonecutter.  Immersed in the negative self-defeating thought process that something is missing from my life and if only certain things were different then I would be happy.  If only more people would buy my book, if only more people came to my classes, if only my shoulder didn't hurt, if only I had a different job, if only I had more time for myself then I would be happy.  I can tell you from personal experience that it is these types of conditional thought processes and the strivings of our egos that stand in the way of our happiness.  I have been reminded that happiness is not a destination but a way of travel.  I am mindfully working towards eliminating these conditional "if only" thoughts from my mind and making more purposeful decisions to live in the present moment, enjoy all of the wonderful blessings that I have been given and stop striving for what I do not have at this moment.  We all engage in "if only" thinking and I would encourage you to investigate for yourself what "if only" stories you are telling yourself and eliminate all such thinking from your minds and live in the present moment.

KAIZEN!!!! 

Respectfully,

  

Steven M. Erickson

Sensei.Erickson@KiInspiringThoughts.com

© Copyright 2009-11  Steven M. Erickson, MD 

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