The story of the RIVER -part 1 -Thich Nhat Hanh

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The River----------Thich nhat hanh

 

 

 

 

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful riverfinding her way among

the hills, forests, and meadows. She began by being a joyful stream

of water, a spring always dancing and singing as she ran down from

the top of the mountain. She was very young at that time, and as she

came to the lowland she slowed down. She was thinking about going to

the ocean. as she gre up, she learned to look beautiful, widing

gracefully among the hills and meadows.

 

One day she noticed the clouds within herself. clouds of all sorts of

colors and forms. she did nothing these days but chase after clouds.

she wanted to possess a cloud, to have one for herself. but clouds

float and travel in the sky, and they are always changing their form.

sometimes they look like an overcoat, sometimes like a horse. because

of the nature of impermanence within the clouds, the river suffered

very much. her pleasure, her joy had become just chasing after

clouds, one after another, but despair, anger , and hatred became her

life.

Then one day a strong wind came and blew away all the clouds in the

sky. the sky became completely empty. our river thought that life was

not worth living for there were no longer any clouds to chase after.

she wanted to die. "if there are no clouds, why shold i be alive?"

but how can a river take her own life?

 

that night the river had the opportunity to go back to herself for

the first time. she had been running for so long after something

outside of herself that she had neve sween herself. That night was

the first opportunity for her to hear her own crying, the sounds of

water crushing against the bank of the river. because she was able to

listen to her own voice, she discovered something quite important.

 

She realized that what she had been looking for was already in

herself. she found out that clouds are nothing but water. clouds are

born from water and will return to water. and she found out that she

herself is also water.

 

to be continued....