One day in 2003 I was having breakfast at the Om Hotel in McLeod when my dear friend Sacha Faller walked in. He was a young Swiss guy with a perfect American accent who took his Buddhism very seriously and attended classes on Buddhism at Kangchen Khishong every weekday. That morning he told me a story that I thought was so interesting, I asked him to type it down for me. Now, many years later, I have the pleasure to share it with you.
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Sacha (L) and an unnamed Tibetan (C) looking fascinated at an unnamed "table illusionist" (R) in Rewalsar.
Hi there... I hope you are doing fine. So the deed is done. I've tried to put down in words my little story. I do hope you like it. Concerning copyright and bla bla - this is a story which was given freely to me. You may use the text at you discretion. If you want, you can quote the whole text verbatim in your book (although I'm not quite sure my literary style is all that good)...
Take care... Love
Sacha (February, 2004)
Sacha standing next to my Japanese friend Hiroshi near my home in McLeod.
THE KING AND HIS WISE MINISTER
Once upon a time in a small kingdom not far from here there lived a king. Although his kingdom was small, the king and his subjects lived in peace and harmony. Their lives were simple and there had been no wars or famines for generations.
Even though the king wasn‘t very rich he was in possession of ‘a very precious jewel’ as he liked to call it. This jewel wasn‘t a stone or any other type of ornament. As a matter of fact; it wasn‘t a thing at all but a person. This person was his first minister. Having met this extraordinary wise person many years ago, the king had decided to make him his first minister and personal counsellor. Himself being quite experienced he nevertheless knew how important a wise counsel could be and over the years this decision proved to be one of the best the king had ever made. The minister was humble and loyal. In questions regarding state affairs as well as in more personal affairs he proved invaluable. He was trustworthy and completely confident about all things entrusted to him. Most astonishing; his advice, if properly followed, always led to the desired results without causing any harm or other kinds of disturbances.
As every year, so this year too the king gave the yearly celebrations commemorating his accession to the throne of the kingdom. One week of festivities and sporting events to which he invited all the nobles of the surrounding countries. As was tradition this week was ended by a great banquet in which the king served exquisite dishes to his guests.
After the king had given his annual speech and the main course had been served, the servants brought the dessert which consisted of various rare delicacies from far away countries.
As the king was trying to peel an exotic fruit with a small knife he unfortunately slipped and cut his hand. After having been taken care of by his physician he leaned over to his minister who was sitting to his right side and said: “What do you say?”
“What do you mean?” his minister inquired.
“Well I could have cut myself pretty badly. And even though it is not quite that bad, I do feel very uncomfortable with this accident,”
The minister answered. “Everything that happens happens for a reason and, therefore, is good.”
The king was completely taken aback with this reply. And even though he would have liked to continue his discussion with his minister, he had to put this off until a later time, since he was expected to take care of his guests.
After the festivities had ended and the king had retired to his quarters he had time to think about the minister’s words. ‘What did he mean with these words?’ he questioned himself. ‘Does he not care if harm is done to me? Is he still to be trusted? And if I were being attacked by an assassin would he still agree that this is a good thing? Might he himself harbour the idea to cause me harm?’
In all these years the minister had been most loyal and trustworthy to him, yet still, the king did not want to take any chances with a person that had such an important role in his kingdom and was always close by his side. Of course he did not want to ask his minister straight out if he had evil intentions towards him, for if he did, he would surely deny and on top of this, he would be warned about the king’s suspicions. Although he didn‘t quite know how, the king decided that he would have to test his minister on this issue. In time, was his reasoning, favourable conditions would surely present themselves for such a kind of test.
A few days later the king decided to go on a small excursion to the borders of his kingdom. Accompanied only by his minister he set out on horseback early in the morning. Towards noontime the small party had decided to rest in a village that had been abandoned for a long time. Most of the township had already fallen apart and therefore there wasn’t much to see. After eating lunch close to a dried out well in the centre of the place the king suddenly found a solution for how he could test his minister’s ‘odd’ views on what had previously happened during the festivities. The king called his minister over to the edge of the well and had him look down into it. As the minister was bent over the edge the king suddenly pushed his friend over into the hole.
Looking down upon his minister after his rather rough landing, the king said: “My dear friend, you seem to be in quite a predicament there. Without my help you will never be able to get out of this hole again. Tell me; do you still think that everything that happens, happens for a reason and, therefore, is good?”
Without hesitation the minister answered: “Yes my lord, that is still my opinion.” Irritated by the seemingly complete disregard of the seriousness of the situation on the side of his subject, the king voiced himself firmly: “You seem to need some time to think about your rather obscure thoughts about the matter at hand. I‘ll return back home now. Maybe I‘ll be back to save you, maybe I won’t.”
“I wish you a safe journey then my liege,” was the only reply coming from the minister.
The king took the horses and set out on his way home. As he was on his way back, the king thought: ‘I must say I give the man quite some credit for his reaction. He seems to act in conformity with his beliefs. Nevertheless, I want to know if his opinion will remain the same after having waited in that hole for some time. If he turns out to be in desperation upon my return I‘ll have him evicted from this country for the rest of his life; if he still has the same attitude he will have truly proven his worth and integrity to me once and for all.’
While reasoning in this way, being distracted, the king took a wrong path into unknown territories and subsequently got lost. Unfortunately he came into the territory of a primitive forest tribe and, being a trespasser, was arrested by a group of their soldiers. He was then taken before the pagan leader for questioning.
As it turned out the king had entered sacred grounds without permission. As this tribe was very superstitious it was decided that he would have to be sacrificed to their dark goddess whose sacred grounds he had desecrated with his presence in order to prevent her wrath, which in their belief, could destroy their whole tribe. He was then put into a cage where he was to await his death the next morning.
Needless to say the king didn‘t sleep that night. Just as the minister in the well, he now too had time to ponder upon his counsellor’s convictions.
How could a small journey end in such a disaster? From the time he left his minister things seemed to get worse. Although he was aware that all of this had nothing to do with what happened at the well, he couldn’t avoid the feeling that, in some way, all that happened seemed to be connected in a way he couldn‘t readily comprehend. Thinking about the minister’s viewpoint concerning bad circumstances and misfortunes he still failed to understand how such things could be seen as ‘good’.
After a dreadful night at last the king was taken out of his prison in the morning. He was then brought to the sacred grounds of the bloodthirsty goddess of the tribe. In the presence of the chief and the assembled tribe their high priest had prepared everything for the sacrifice. After having taken off the robes of the king, the priest proceeded to have a closer look at the king’s body. He seemed to notice the bandage on the king’s hand which covered his cut. Having removed it, he suddenly started to scream around: “This individual is unfit as an offering to our exalted goddess. He has a wound and is therefore impure. If we offer him to Her we all will surely come to regret this action. She will doubtlessly destroy us all for such blasphemy!”
After some deliberations it was decided that king was to be freed since he was of no use for their ritual of atonement. In his stead they offered another tribe’s member who had committed other sinful actions. The king was given back his robe and horses and was lead to the edge of the tribe’s territory. There he was told to consider his good fortune and to never come back for next time he would surely be put to death.
With an intense sense of relief the king went back to the deserted town in order to free his friend. After he arrived he went to the well and related the minister the story of his latter adventures.
Before getting his companion out of the well, the king still had a last question: “My friend you see I now understand the meaning of your reasoning. Yet, still, I feel some reluctance in freeing you. Tell me honestly; after having put your life into danger with my actions will you hold this against me? Will you still be loyal to such an unworthy patron?”
Astonished the minister answered: “What do you mean with putting my life in danger? As a matter of fact your actions put me out of harms way. If you hadn’t thrown me into this well and I would have been captured with you I would have surely died. There wouldn‘t have been a cut in my hand to save my life! You have saved my life and for this I‘ll be grateful until I die.”
Amazed with this answer the king uttered: “I think I now have my answer; you falling into the well happened for a very good reason and the outcome of this incident is indeed very fortunate.”
Then the minister said to him: “My king, before you help me out of this well, I have more good news. As I was waiting for you to come back I discovered a big treasure at the bottom of this well. Someone must have hidden it in here in former days. Failing to be reclaimed by its rightful owner, it has been here waiting for another to discover it. Let us get it up first.”
After the treasure and the minister had been taken up the two friends went on their journey back home.
From that time on the king and his minister lived happily ever after with all the new riches they had gained from their trip.
Moral: Everything that happens happens for a reason and, therefore, is good.
We might not always understand the things that happen to us (the way they do) and why they do. Having faith we should understand that everything happens to us for a certain reason and no matter what, we should try to accept them as part of our path in this life.
Every occurrence in our lives helps us to progress on our path and although we might not understand its proper reason right away, we should trust it to have meaning for us (and our lives) and therefore we should make an effort, no matter how awful things might seem to be at the moment, to view them as positive for our own evolution.
Sacha Faller
Once upon a time in a small kingdom not far from here there lived a king. Although his kingdom was small, the king and his subjects lived in peace and harmony. Their lives were simple and there had been no wars or famines for generations.
Even though the king wasn‘t very rich he was in possession of ‘a very precious jewel’ as he liked to call it. This jewel wasn‘t a stone or any other type of ornament. As a matter of fact; it wasn‘t a thing at all but a person. This person was his first minister. Having met this extraordinary wise person many years ago, the king had decided to make him his first minister and personal counsellor. Himself being quite experienced he nevertheless knew how important a wise counsel could be and over the years this decision proved to be one of the best the king had ever made. The minister was humble and loyal. In questions regarding state affairs as well as in more personal affairs he proved invaluable. He was trustworthy and completely confident about all things entrusted to him. Most astonishing; his advice, if properly followed, always led to the desired results without causing any harm or other kinds of disturbances.
As every year, so this year too the king gave the yearly celebrations commemorating his accession to the throne of the kingdom. One week of festivities and sporting events to which he invited all the nobles of the surrounding countries. As was tradition this week was ended by a great banquet in which the king served exquisite dishes to his guests.
After the king had given his annual speech and the main course had been served, the servants brought the dessert which consisted of various rare delicacies from far away countries.
As the king was trying to peel an exotic fruit with a small knife he unfortunately slipped and cut his hand. After having been taken care of by his physician he leaned over to his minister who was sitting to his right side and said: “What do you say?”
“What do you mean?” his minister inquired.
“Well I could have cut myself pretty badly. And even though it is not quite that bad, I do feel very uncomfortable with this accident,”
The minister answered. “Everything that happens happens for a reason and, therefore, is good.”
The king was completely taken aback with this reply. And even though he would have liked to continue his discussion with his minister, he had to put this off until a later time, since he was expected to take care of his guests.
After the festivities had ended and the king had retired to his quarters he had time to think about the minister’s words. ‘What did he mean with these words?’ he questioned himself. ‘Does he not care if harm is done to me? Is he still to be trusted? And if I were being attacked by an assassin would he still agree that this is a good thing? Might he himself harbour the idea to cause me harm?’
In all these years the minister had been most loyal and trustworthy to him, yet still, the king did not want to take any chances with a person that had such an important role in his kingdom and was always close by his side. Of course he did not want to ask his minister straight out if he had evil intentions towards him, for if he did, he would surely deny and on top of this, he would be warned about the king’s suspicions. Although he didn‘t quite know how, the king decided that he would have to test his minister on this issue. In time, was his reasoning, favourable conditions would surely present themselves for such a kind of test.
A few days later the king decided to go on a small excursion to the borders of his kingdom. Accompanied only by his minister he set out on horseback early in the morning. Towards noontime the small party had decided to rest in a village that had been abandoned for a long time. Most of the township had already fallen apart and therefore there wasn’t much to see. After eating lunch close to a dried out well in the centre of the place the king suddenly found a solution for how he could test his minister’s ‘odd’ views on what had previously happened during the festivities. The king called his minister over to the edge of the well and had him look down into it. As the minister was bent over the edge the king suddenly pushed his friend over into the hole.
Looking down upon his minister after his rather rough landing, the king said: “My dear friend, you seem to be in quite a predicament there. Without my help you will never be able to get out of this hole again. Tell me; do you still think that everything that happens, happens for a reason and, therefore, is good?”
Without hesitation the minister answered: “Yes my lord, that is still my opinion.” Irritated by the seemingly complete disregard of the seriousness of the situation on the side of his subject, the king voiced himself firmly: “You seem to need some time to think about your rather obscure thoughts about the matter at hand. I‘ll return back home now. Maybe I‘ll be back to save you, maybe I won’t.”
“I wish you a safe journey then my liege,” was the only reply coming from the minister.
The king took the horses and set out on his way home. As he was on his way back, the king thought: ‘I must say I give the man quite some credit for his reaction. He seems to act in conformity with his beliefs. Nevertheless, I want to know if his opinion will remain the same after having waited in that hole for some time. If he turns out to be in desperation upon my return I‘ll have him evicted from this country for the rest of his life; if he still has the same attitude he will have truly proven his worth and integrity to me once and for all.’
While reasoning in this way, being distracted, the king took a wrong path into unknown territories and subsequently got lost. Unfortunately he came into the territory of a primitive forest tribe and, being a trespasser, was arrested by a group of their soldiers. He was then taken before the pagan leader for questioning.
As it turned out the king had entered sacred grounds without permission. As this tribe was very superstitious it was decided that he would have to be sacrificed to their dark goddess whose sacred grounds he had desecrated with his presence in order to prevent her wrath, which in their belief, could destroy their whole tribe. He was then put into a cage where he was to await his death the next morning.
Needless to say the king didn‘t sleep that night. Just as the minister in the well, he now too had time to ponder upon his counsellor’s convictions.
How could a small journey end in such a disaster? From the time he left his minister things seemed to get worse. Although he was aware that all of this had nothing to do with what happened at the well, he couldn’t avoid the feeling that, in some way, all that happened seemed to be connected in a way he couldn‘t readily comprehend. Thinking about the minister’s viewpoint concerning bad circumstances and misfortunes he still failed to understand how such things could be seen as ‘good’.
After a dreadful night at last the king was taken out of his prison in the morning. He was then brought to the sacred grounds of the bloodthirsty goddess of the tribe. In the presence of the chief and the assembled tribe their high priest had prepared everything for the sacrifice. After having taken off the robes of the king, the priest proceeded to have a closer look at the king’s body. He seemed to notice the bandage on the king’s hand which covered his cut. Having removed it, he suddenly started to scream around: “This individual is unfit as an offering to our exalted goddess. He has a wound and is therefore impure. If we offer him to Her we all will surely come to regret this action. She will doubtlessly destroy us all for such blasphemy!”
After some deliberations it was decided that king was to be freed since he was of no use for their ritual of atonement. In his stead they offered another tribe’s member who had committed other sinful actions. The king was given back his robe and horses and was lead to the edge of the tribe’s territory. There he was told to consider his good fortune and to never come back for next time he would surely be put to death.
With an intense sense of relief the king went back to the deserted town in order to free his friend. After he arrived he went to the well and related the minister the story of his latter adventures.
Before getting his companion out of the well, the king still had a last question: “My friend you see I now understand the meaning of your reasoning. Yet, still, I feel some reluctance in freeing you. Tell me honestly; after having put your life into danger with my actions will you hold this against me? Will you still be loyal to such an unworthy patron?”
Astonished the minister answered: “What do you mean with putting my life in danger? As a matter of fact your actions put me out of harms way. If you hadn’t thrown me into this well and I would have been captured with you I would have surely died. There wouldn‘t have been a cut in my hand to save my life! You have saved my life and for this I‘ll be grateful until I die.”
Amazed with this answer the king uttered: “I think I now have my answer; you falling into the well happened for a very good reason and the outcome of this incident is indeed very fortunate.”
Then the minister said to him: “My king, before you help me out of this well, I have more good news. As I was waiting for you to come back I discovered a big treasure at the bottom of this well. Someone must have hidden it in here in former days. Failing to be reclaimed by its rightful owner, it has been here waiting for another to discover it. Let us get it up first.”
After the treasure and the minister had been taken up the two friends went on their journey back home.
From that time on the king and his minister lived happily ever after with all the new riches they had gained from their trip.
Moral: Everything that happens happens for a reason and, therefore, is good.
We might not always understand the things that happen to us (the way they do) and why they do. Having faith we should understand that everything happens to us for a certain reason and no matter what, we should try to accept them as part of our path in this life.
Every occurrence in our lives helps us to progress on our path and although we might not understand its proper reason right away, we should trust it to have meaning for us (and our lives) and therefore we should make an effort, no matter how awful things might seem to be at the moment, to view them as positive for our own evolution.
Sacha Faller
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Sacha preparing for meditation inside the cave of Padmasambhava above the Tso Pema lake in the Himalayan town of Rewalsar..
Dear Sacha,
This story never found its way into any of my books, but I hope you will be pleased to see it online. I have taken the liberty to do a little editing. Thank you once again for the time and energy you put into writing down this story for me.
This story never found its way into any of my books, but I hope you will be pleased to see it online. I have taken the liberty to do a little editing. Thank you once again for the time and energy you put into writing down this story for me.
With love… Pantau.
Posts
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My difficulty with moral espoused by such tales is: where do you draw the line as to what I can control and what I should yield up as beyond my ken?
ReplyDeleteAs Forrest Gump said "I think it is a bit of both." You have control, as you can send YOUR message into the universe as to what you want to experience. So in 1999, I said: I am not happy with what I experience. I want something better than this. Yet, I broke my arm, lost my mental health, my partner and almost my life. So I thought: God is not helping me at all, the Bitch!! Instead She's giving me even more problems. But looking back now, I think, God helped me. Had God not made me lose my then partner, my rowing career, and my office job, I would still be locked up in my old life that wasn't fulfilling. Instead, with so many problems I was facing in 1999, I was able to leave everything behind and start my journey to happiness. You read my books, you know what wonderful things started happening to me after 1999. I prayed to become a published writer, wife and mother. Well, I needed to go through a lot of shit first, but I got what I wanted. I wouldn't have gotten to my destination without the shit. You can sit in a box and do nothing, nothing will happen to you. You can get out of your box, pray for what you desire, and eventhough you may face obstacles, these obstacles might help you to get where you want to go. Does this answer your question? I can elaborate on this particular matter in a future post. I think many people wish to know what kind of control they have over their lives and what influence the universe/God has over their lives. Is everything predestined by God. No. She has give you the chess pieces, and you are the one that has the hands to move the pieces. It's a game and it's up to you how you want to play it.
ReplyDeleteCheers.... Pantau
For me, the difficulty is in determining which obstacles are ones that I am meant to gain growth through surmounting and which are intended as indicators, clues that I am on the wrong path. Even though not every job you had ended happily for you, the end result was that you had gotten enough money and connections to finance a trip to India. I think it's correct to say that even if you had gone earlier, you would not have been as prepared mentally and spiritually for the experiences you had while there.
ReplyDeleteYou're very right with that. I think if you keep experiencing the same problems over and over again, maybe you're on the wrong path. Like people who can't sing who keep on attending singing talent contests. If too many publishers had told me I'd better try a singing career, I would be a singer now. Too many bands told me I was a better writer.
ReplyDeleteSo, listen to your heart, obstacles never last long but if the obstacle lasts for years, maybe you're not on the right path. Does this make any sense?
Yes, personally, I think 1999 was the year for me to change everything known to me and start a new life in India. I had the money, the experience, the bleak prospects for a future in Holland, and the will and energy to experience something new on the other side of the world.
Well, I guess it does make sense. If one is sure of their heart, one can endure countless difficulties striving towards their ultimate goal. However, it still doesn't help one predict if the next difficulty will the last bump in the road, as it were, or the thumping whack to the forehead that will be the final defeat. The only way to know which is to go forward.
ReplyDeleteStill, I think you are too pessimistic. Write me a private message and explain to me what your perfect life would look like and why you feel you're experiencing so many obstacles.
ReplyDeleteDear Sacha
ReplyDeleteWe've been to school and later attended psychology lectures together, and still today I miss the talks with you. I have always been impressed by your intelligence and touched by your warm heart.
Now reading about you, how you follow that path, I am impressed again.
Lots of love to wherever you are
C.
sasha my friend i miss u....dharamsala,my teacher....
ReplyDelete