Be A Lake

The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in
a glass of water and then to drink it. "How does it taste?" the Master
asked. "Awful," spat the apprentice.

The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of
salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake
and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt into the lake, the old
man said, "Now drink from the lake."

As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the Master asked, "How does
it taste?" "Good!" remarked the apprentice. "Do you taste the salt?" asked
the Master. "No," said the young man.

The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and said,

"The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life
remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount we taste the 'pain'
depends on the container we put it into. So when you are in pain, the only
thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things ..... Stop being a
glass. Become a lake!"