One day a farmer’s donkey fell into the well. It began crying out, crying out for help. The farmer tried all he coulkd to work out how to retrieve the poor animal. He finally thought that as the animal was old, and the well needed covering up as it was dry he would kill two birds with one stone.
He went to get get help from his neighbours and they all started shovelling in earth to bury the donkey and fill the well.
What happened next surprised everyone. As the earth was shovelled in and started to cover the the beast, it calmy just shook the earth from it’s back and stepped on to the growing pile. As the farmers shovelled and the pile grew the donkey kept shaking off the dirt and stood atop the mound of earth. Eventually of course the earth and therefore the resiliant donkey rose to the top and easily stepped out of the well and trotted off.
There are two things here. First, unintentional consequences. The farmer wasn’t exactly acting in the best interest of the donkey. He misunderstood the role of cause and effect in the sense that he thought to solve his problem he couldn’t see beyond an action that came from a fixed point. The point being a sense of the permanent self.
The other thing here is that although starting out, so to speak, from a false position, asthe scene plays out we can adjust and learn. In other words see what is happening and then shovel with the intention of releasing the donkey.
One of the joys of training and being in training is to see how quickly we can see where something has gone off. ‘Normally’ when clashes happen or differences of opinion come up we can carry these around and stew for a long time. A very long time. In practicing we come to a much quicker realisation of where we are and can shift and move to be in line sooner. The joy is in not carrying the suffering but knowing to, and knowing how, to put it down.
The other element of the story is to see that whatever life throws at us we can literally shake it off and rise above it. We can feel weighed down and covered over by our emotions and feelings. It can all seem too much and in doing so fail to see that we are allowing outside conditions to drive us. The donkey was wise and saw that here was an opportunity. The intention behind the shovelling is immaterial to us turning our life around. The act of doing harm has an effect, but it doesn’t have to drive us.
The story doesn’t indicate at what point, if at all, the people saw what was happening and then joined in more positvely, let’s hope that’s case. Even so it still shows that one can work with those who are making life difficult, and when doing so the way appears.
When seen through the eye of compassion the donkey’s response was to see what it needed to do and not get bogged down in anxiety, or revengeful feelings. This shows us that the direct route is simpler and clearer. Compassion for the farmer, compassion for the situation and compassion for oneself.
When one finds oneself in a seemingly impossible position where there is no obvious way out and the world is then burying you alive, think of the donkey.