It was a late night. A seven-year-old boy and an old man were walking a quiet countryside road in Texas. The old man looked very exhausted but the boy just looked excited.
They were lost. There was no bus or car and they had to find a place to sleep.
The old man asked the boy, “Aren’t you tired?” The boy brightly smiled and replied, “Yes, I’m tired.”
They walked for a while and the old man asked again, “I might die from exhaustion. What about you? Are you ok?” The boy smiled and replied, “I am fine. If we keep walking down, we will find a place to sleep.” They walked for a while again. The old man with a rather tired face asked again, “We might walk all night long. I am worried about you, boy. Are you really fine?” The boy again replied, “I am fine.”
The night went by and dawn came. They got tired and walked slowly. A truck drove by and saw these two people. The driver stopped the truck and picked them up.
The old man full of worries said to the boy, “I was almost dying. It was an extremely tiring day. Don’t worry, kid. Everything’s going to be fine.” Then the boy smiled and said, “It was fun for me, sir. Although it was a bit tiring, I never knew it was this fun to walk at night.”
The boy and old man walked the same road. However, the old man walked a road of worries and pain, while the boy walked a road of joy and new experience. We know so well that the life of heaven and hell depends on what mind you have.
If you were given one lifetime, would you take it joyfully without mind like a boy, or heavily with worries and pain like an old man? The choice is up on you.
Teacher Woo Myung’s poem
From his poetry “Mind”
Burdens
Let’s cast off all the minds
gained through our lives.
Although there is nothing to have in life,
people are bound to the mind of possession
and they live trying to possess.
Thus, they live their lives meaninglessly
and die by their own cunning.
Let’s shed the mass of minds that are our attachments.
Let’s live freely, having laid down those burdens.
Even if we come to have something,
let’s not live bound to karma.
Only living this way can make your true self,
and only this true self can live.
