A Taoist Parable

This is, as the title indicates, a Taoist parable (to the best of my recollection, one of Chuang-Tze's). I consider it highly topical, advising as it does against struggling with an unmanagable situation simply because you desire a certain outcome. There are situations that I would like to go otherwise, and people I'd wish to behave somewhat differently...but ultimately, I have only the sort of control that Master K'ung has, below.

And as it turns out, that is plenty.

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One day, an angry and unruly horse was left tied in a narrow but very busy alleyway. A crowd soon gathered, debating the best way to get around the restive beast. Many advocated attempting to simply run past it, but the alley proved too narrow, and they only received kicks for their troubles.

Several people tried to vault over the horse, but it simply reared up and trampled them mercilessly. One brave man even sought to crawl between its legs, but was nearly killed in the attempt.

After many hours, a young girl spotted Master K'ung approaching the alley from a nearby street. She yelled, "Master K'ung approaches! Surely he can help us get around the horse!"

Master K'ung gazed from the crowd to the horse, pausing briefly to consider. He then smiled slightly, and walked down to the next alley to continue on his way.

This entry was posted by naporeon, on Saturday, July 22, 2006. You can leave your response.