The food I ate from the board was actually very rare ginseng…those who ate it, may have reached a high realm…and because you guys didn’t eat it, you may well have missed your destiny! (Courtesy Wikipedia Commons)
Ancient Tales of Wisdom today reveals how encounters of any kind, can never really be perceived as being by chance, regardless of how or when they may be presented to us. This story tells us how it pays to remain conscious at all times and not allow those initial thoughts and perceptions we sometimes have, to lead us away from, and maybe miss, what could have been one of our destined opportunities.
Welcome back to the SOH Radio Network, the home of Ancient Tales of Wisdom. Hello everyone, I’m Grace Mann, it’s great to be back with you again. Today’s tale is adapted from the writing ‘An Account of Meeting with Deities’ and it is entitled: Missing the Opportunity.
The Ten Friends of Weiyang were ten people who were wealthy and content with what they had. They weren’t interested in pursuing government positions neither were they greedy about their money. One thing that they liked to do was to get together and talk about metaphysics and Taoism. The ten friends were like brothers and were extremely close, so they often took turns hosting dinner parties.
One day an old man showed up uninvited at one of their parties. He wore rags and was painfully thin. The ten friends were in a good mood and they felt empathy for the old man. So they allowed him to remain and shared their feast with him. After the old man finished his dinner, he left.
A few days later, the old man appeared again. He told the ten friends, “I am a poor man. I feel honoured because you allowed me to join your dinner party and nobody was rude to me. You have finished one round of hosting dinner parties already, now it is my turn, and I will try my best to host one, in order to show my respect for you. Let us set a date and I hope you all can attend.”
The ten friends agreed to attend the old man’s dinner party. On the agreed date, the old man came to get the ten friends early in the morning. He led them to an area east of the city. Even though the friends felt that they hadn’t been walking for a long time, they had trekked quite a long distance. Upon arriving at their destination, they saw three leaning huts that appeared so unstable that it seemed that they would not survive a gust of wind. The old man invited them to go inside. When the ten friends went inside the hut, the saw a few grubby and unsightly beggars in rags with uncombed, long hair were inside the hut. When the old man entered the hut, the beggars stood up and waited for instructions from him. The old man told them to clean the hut, lay down some firewood on the ground, and lay out a straw mat. Then he asked the ten friends to sit down.
It was getting late and everyone was feeling quite hungry. After a while, some of the beggars brought vinegar, salt and bamboo chop sticks to the guests. Then a few beggars carried a big board that was about 5 to 6 feet long and put it in the middle of the straw mat. The board was covered with a piece of oilcloth on top. The ten friends looked at each other and assumed that they would finally get some food to eat. When the old man removed the cover, the food on the board was steaming and it took a little time for the steam to subside. The old man then asked his guests to help themselves. The ten friends looked at each other aghast, because of what they thought they were seeing. They were shocked at the shape of the food pieces, which looked like forms of a foetus. With this, some of the friends pretended they weren’t hungry and the others left the hut in anger. Nobody wanted to eat the old man’s food.
Without any response to the ten friends’ reactions, the old man started to eat. After he finished his share, he told the rest of the beggars to finish off the remaining food. After all the food was eaten, the old man turned to the ten friends and said, “The foodstuff I ate a moment ago was actually ginseng that was more than 1,000 years old. It is very rare, and I wanted to share with you all because you fellows treated me well. The fact is – Those who ate the ginseng could possibly reach a high realm and become a deity. You guys didn’t eat it, and because you didn’t eat it, you may well have missed your destiny!” The ten friends looked at each other in shock and they deeply regretted what they had done, and that it had cost them a missed opportunity.
Soon after this encounter, all the beggars who had eaten the ginseng were transformed into golden boys and jade girls. They held banners and umbrellas for the old man, and with the old man flew up to the sky, and the ten friends never saw their beggar friend again.
It has once more been my privilege to share yet another tale from days gone by with you all. Stay tuned to the SOH Radio Network for the next episode of Ancient Tales of Wisdom.
Until then laugh lots, be happy and may we all be conscious of not missing any of our destined opportunities.
Recent Comments