114-The emergency - Buddhism in daily life

The emergency

As in every religion (or worldview), there are also places in Buddhism to which people go on pilgrimage to connect with the special spirituality of the area, to express wishes and ask for fulfilment, or simply to search for their own self in peace and quiet.

On one of these pilgrimages, a pious man once crossed an inhospitable desert, the air was dry, the path dusty, the destination still far. When a storm arose, he lost all orientation, wandered about, had lost his way. Further and further he strayed from his path, deeper and deeper into the sandy desert his way led. He also had no more supplies, far and wide there was no house, no human being and no animal to be seen.

As he rummaged through his pockets once more, he noticed a small green apple that he had taken from a tree a few days ago while passing by. Now, of course, he was happy about the unexpected find in his pockets, but he put the apple away again, as it was still completely unripe.

The pilgrim continued to search for his original path, but he was hopelessly lost. His hunger grew and thirst nearly drove him mad. Several times he thought of giving up, sitting down and falling asleep, hoping never to wake up and escape the hardships of fate. But again and again he thought of the small, green apple that was just waiting to be eaten in his pocket, often taking it out, looking at it almost lovingly, because in some way this apple symbolised hope for him, so he put it back in his pocket and thought to himself that he would only eat this apple in an extreme emergency. And right now it was not yet so bad that this extreme emergency would have occurred, so he put the apple back into his pocket again and again.

So the apple became a strong synonym for hope for the pilgrim, because he had something in his pocket for an emergency, he had something he could rely on, he was not without supplies.

After wandering for a while, the exhausted man finally reached his original path again, towards the original place, on the way to his destination. He had saved himself, saw people again, found water and food. When he was finally able to rest under a shady palm tree, he pulled the apple out of his pocket and bit into the still sour apple with relish. The apple tasted delicious, it was the best apple he had ever eaten in his life.

The path is the goal!

When your thoughts are full of restlessness, when you cast your eyes eagerly for pleasures

Your thirst must only increase, your thirst creates your fetters: strong ropes.

- Buddha - honorary name of Siddharta Gautama - 560 to 480 before the year zero

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