The Sky And The Crow

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A tale from the Bhagawat Purana:

A crow once flew into the sky with a piece of meat in its beak. Twenty other crows set out in hot pursuit and began to attack it viciously.

When the crow finally dropped-the meat, its pursuers left if alone and flew off shrieking after the morsel.

Said the crow: “I’ve lost the meat and gained this peaceful sky.”

Said a Zen monk,

“When my house burnt down I got an unobstructed view of the moon at night!”

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

Bayazid Breaks The Rule

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Bayazid, the Moslem saint, would sometimes deliberately act against the outward forms and rituals of Islam.

It once happened that, on his way back from Mecca, he stopped at the Iranian town of Key. The townsfolk, who revered him, rushed to make him welcome and created a great stir in the town. Bayazid, who was quite tired of this adulation, waited till he reached the market place. There he bought a loaf of bread and began to munch it in full view of his followers. It was a day of fasting in the month of Ramazan but Bayazid knew that his journey justified the breaking of the law.

Not so his followers. They were so shocked at his behaviour that they promptly left him and went back to their homes. Bayazid impishly remarked to a disciple, “Did you see how the moment I did something contrary to their expectation, their veneration vanished?”

The price you pay for veneration is conformity.

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

The Contented Fisherman

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The industrialist was horrified to find the fisherman lying beside his boat, smoking a pipe.

“Why aren’t you out fishing?” said the industrialist.

“Because I have caught enough fish for the day.”

“Why don’t you catch some more?”

“What would I do with it?”

“Earn more money. Then you could have a motor fixed to your boat and go into deeper waters and catch more fish. Thai would bring you money to buy nylon nets, so more fish, more money. Soon you would have enough to buy two boats... even a fleet of boots. Then you could be rich like me.”

“What would I do then?”

“Then you could really enjoy life.”

“What do you think I am doing now?”

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Which would you rather have: a fortune or a capacity for enjoyment?

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

Better Sleep Than Slander

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Sadi of Shiraz tells this tale about himself:

I used to be a pious child, fervent in prayer and devotion. One night I was keeping vigil with my father, the Holy Koran on my lap.

The others in the room began to slumber and soon everyone was fast asleep, so I said to my father, “None of these sleepers opens his eyes or raises his head to say his prayers. You would think they were dead.”

My father replied, “My beloved son, I would rather you too were sleeping like them than slandering.”

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

Dandelions

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A man who took great pride in his fawn found himself with a large crop of dandelions. He fried every method he knew to destroy them. Still they plagued him.

Finally he wrote the Department of Agriculture. He enumerated all the things he had tried and closed his letter with the question: “What shall I do now?”

In due course the reply came: “We suggest you learn to love them.”

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

The Master Does Not Know

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The Seeker approached the Disciple and asked respectfully, “What is the meaning of human life?”

The Disciple consulted the Works of his Master and confidently replied: “Human life is nothing but the expression of God’s exuberance. “

When the Seeker addressed the same question to the Master himself, the Master said, “I do not know.”

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The Seeker says, “I do not know.” That takes honesty. 

The Master says, “I do not know.” That takes a mystic’s mind that knows things through non-knowing. 

The Disciple says, “I know.” That takes ignorance in the form of borrowed knowledge.

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

The Devil And His Friend

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The devil went for a walk with a friend. They saw a man ahead of them stoop down and pick up something from the ground.

“What did that man find?” asked the friend.

“A piece of Truth,” said the devil.

“Doesn’t that disturb you?” asked the friend.

“No,” said the devil, “I shall let him make a belief out of it.”

A religious belief is a signpost pointing the way to Truth. When you cling to the signpost you are prevented from moving towards the Truth because you think you have it already.

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

Thomas Aquinas Stop Writing

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The story goes that one of the world’s ablest theologians. Thomas Aquinas suddenly stopped writing. When his secretary complained about his unfinished works, Thomas replied: ‘Brother Reginald, some months ago I experienced something of the Absolute, so all I have ever written of God seems to me now to be like straw.’

How could it be otherwise when the scholar becomes a seer?

When the mystic came down from the mountain he was accosted by the atheist who said, sarcastically, “What did you bring us from that garden of delights you were in?”

The mystic replied, “I had every intention of filling my skirt with flowers and giving them to my friends on my return. But while I was there I became so intoxicated with the fragrance of the garden that I let go of the skirt.”

The Zen Masters put it succinctly: “The one who knows, does not say. The one who says, does not know.”

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

The Formula

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The mystic was back from the desert.
“Tell us,” they said, “what God is like.”

But how could he ever tell them what he had experienced in his heart?
Can God be put into words?

He finally gave them a formula — inaccurate, inadequate—in the hope that some
might be tempted to experience it for themselves.

They seized upon the formula. They made it a sacred text. They imposed it on others as a holy belief. They went to great pains to spread it in foreign lands. Some even gave their lives for if.
The mystic was sad. It might have been better if he had said nothing.

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

The Explorer

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The explorer returned to his people, who were eager to know about the Amazon. But how could he ever put into words the feelings that flooded his heart when he saw exotic flowers and heard the night-sounds of the forests; when he sensed the danger of wild beasts or paddled his canoe over treacherous rapids?

He said, “Go and find out for yourselves.” To guide them he drew a map of the river.

They pounced upon the map. They framed it in their Town Hall. They made copies of it for themselves. And all who had a copy considered themselves experts on the river, for did they not know its every turn and bend, how broad it was, how deep, where the rapids were and where the falls ?

It is said that Buddha obdurately refused to be drawn into talking of God.
He was obviously familiar with the dangers of drawing maps for armchair explorers.

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

Label Makers

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Life is like heady wine.
Everyone reads the label on the bottle.
Hardly anyone tastes the wine.

Buddha once pointed to a flower and asked each of his disciples to say something
about it.
One pronounced a lecture.
Another a poem.
Yet another a parable.
Each outdid the other in depth and erudition.

Label-makers!

Mahakashyap smiled and held his tongue.
Only he had seen the flower.

If I could only taste a bird,
a flower,
a tree,
a human face!
But, alas, I have no time.
My energy is spent deciphering the label.

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

The Question

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Said the monk, “All these mountains and rivers and earth and stars — where do they come from?”
Said the Master, “Where does your question come from?”

Search within!

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

Salt And Cotton In The River

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Nasruddin was taking a load of salt to the market. His donkey waded through the river and the salt dissolved. When it reached the opposite bank the animal ran around in circles, overjoyed that its load had been lightened. But Nasruddin was annoyed.

On the next market day he packed the panniers with cotton. The ass nearly drowned with the increased weight of the cotton soaked in the river water. “There I” said Nasruddin gleefully. “That will teach you to think that each time you go through water you stand to gain I”

Two persons walked into religion. One came alive, the other drowned.

(Anthony de Mello SJ, "The Song Of The Bird")

Searching In The Wrong Place

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A neighbour found Nasruddin on hands and knees.
“What are you searching for Mullah?” 
“My key.”

Both men got on their knees to search. After a while the neighbour says, “Where did you lose it?”

“At home.”
“Good Lord! Then why are you searching here?”
“Because it’s brighter here.”

Search for God where you lost Him.

(Anthony de Mello, "The Song of The Bird")

The Royal Pigeon

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Nasruddin became prime minister to the king. Once while he wandered through the palace, he saw a royal falcon.

Now Nasruddin had never seen this kind of a pigeon before. So he got out a pair of scissors and trimmed the claws, the wings and the beak of the falcon.

“Now you look like a decent bird,” he said. “Your keeper had evidently been neglecting you.

“You’re different so there’s something wrong with you!”

(Anthony de Mello, "The Song Of The Bird")

True Spirituality

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The Master was asked, “What is Spirituality?”

He said, “Spirituality is that which succeeds in bringing one to Inner Transformation.”

“But if I apply the traditional methods handed down by the Masters, is that not Spirituality?”

“It is not Spirituality if it does not perform its function for you. A blanket is no longer a blanket if it does not keep you warm.”

“So Spirituality does change?”

“People change and needs change. So what was Spirituality once is Spirituality no more. What generally goes under the name of Spirituality is merely the record of past methods.”

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Don’t cut the person to fit the coat.

(Anthony de Mello, "The Song Of The Bird")

Eat Your Own Fruit

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A disciple once complained:
“You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us.”

Said the Master:
“How would you like it if someone offered you fruit and masticated it before giving it to you?”

(Anthonny de Mello, "The Song of The Bird")

Holiness In The Present Moment

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Buddha was once asked, “What makes a person holy?” He replied, “Every hour is divided into a certain number of seconds and every second into a certain number of fractions. Anyone who is able to be totally present in each fraction of a second is holy.”

The Japanese warrior was captured and thrown into prison. At night he could not sleep for he was convinced he would be tortured next morning. Then the words of his Master came to him: “Tomorrow is not real. The only reality is now.”

So he came to the present — and fell asleep.

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The person over whom the Future has ‘lost its grip: How like the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. No anxieties for the morrow. Total presence in the now. Holiness!

(Anthony de Mello, "The Song of The Bird")

A Vital Difference

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Uwais, the Sufi, was once asked:
“What has Grace brought you?”

He replied:
“When I wake in the morning I feel like a man who is not sure he will live till
evening.”

Said the questioner:
“But doesn’t everyone know this?”

Said Uwais:
“They certainly do. But not all of them feel it.”
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No one ever became drunk on the word wine.

(Anthony de Mello, "The Song Of The Bird")

The Bamboos

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Brownie, our dog, sat looking up the tree; ears cocked, and tail tensely wagging. He was attending to a monkey. Just one thing filled his consciousness: the monkey. No thought disturbed his total concentration, no worry for tomorrow. Brownie was the nearest thing to Contemplation I have ever seen. You may have experienced some of this yourself when you were totally absorbed watching a cat at play.

Here is a formula for Contemplation, as good as anyone know: Be totally in the present. Drop every thought of the future, drop every thought of the past, drop every image and abstraction, and come into the present. Contemplation will arise!

After years of training, the disciple begged his Master to bring him to Enlightenment.

The Master led him to a bamboo grove and said, “See that bamboo, how tall it is ?

See that other one there, how short it is?”

And the disciple was enlightened.

They say Buddha practiced every form of asceticism known to the India of his times, in an effort to attain enlightenment. In vain. One day he sat under a bodhi tree and enlightenment occurred. He passed on the secret of enlightenment to his disciples in words that must seem strange to the uninitiated: “When you draw in a deep breath, oh monks, be aware that you are drawing in a deep breath. And when you draw in a shallow breath, oh monks, be aware that you are drawing in a shallow breath. And when you draw in a medium-sized breath, oh monks, be aware that you are drawing in a medium-sized breath.”

Awareness. Attention. Absorption.

This kind of absorption one sees in little children. They are close to the Kingdom.

(Anthony de Mello, "The Song Of The Bird")