The Traveler who Loved Honey

The following story is found in a Buddhist Sutra. Once upon a time, a traveler was walking in an open field when a crazed elephant came running towards him. He knew immediately that he was in great danger, and could depend on no one but himself. What a pitiful situation to be in! Then he noticed an old path going off into the woods behind him, so he turned and ran like the wind down that path to escape the rampaging elephant. He ran so fearfully and so quickly, he did not notice that the overgrown path soon ended in an old, dried-up well. Since the well had dried up and no one came for water anymore, tall grasses and tangled vines had grown up around it and hidden it from view. In fear for his life, the traveler ran full tilt into the hidden well, and would have fallen right to the bottom had he not managed to grab on to one of the vines hanging down into it. As he hung there, he looked down to the bottom of the well and saw three poisonous dragons and four poisonous snakes lurking in the darkness, staring up at him. Because he was holding on to one of the vines, he did not fall; otherwise, he would certainly have been poisoned and eaten by the venomous dragons and snakes at the bottom of the pit. Since he was in the well, he knew that the crazed elephant could not get him. But, just as he was sighing with relief, he saw two mice, one black and one white, gnawing on the vine he was hanging from. In fact, they had already chewed through two-thirds of the vine! Just a little more, and the vine would no longer hold his weight and he would fall to his doom! At that critical moment, the traveler looked up and saw a bee hovering just above his head; then five drops of honey fell from the bee directly into his open mouth. The honey tasted so sweet! And when the traveler savored its sweet taste, he loved it so much that he forgot about the mad elephant above him and the hissing serpents below, and let go of his life-preserving vine. You see, even in this life or death situation, the traveler was enticed by a few drops of honey. He forgot his danger, let go of the vine, and it was all over for him. Dissecting this parable from a Buddhist perspective, the five drops of honey represent the Five Desires of wealth, lust, fame, food and sleep. Because we covet these Five Desires, we forget about life's sufferings and fail to see the importance of that life-preserving vine, without which we would fall victim to the three poisonous dragons. These three dragons represent the Three Poisons of greed, anger and ignorance; the four venomous snakes represent the four elements that compose our physical bodies: earth, water, fire and wind. The traveler walking in the open field in fact portrays our fearful situation as we endlessly wander through the Three Realms. The rampaging elephant is a personification of life's impermanence, and the dried up well is analogous to the boundless suffering arising out of reincarnation. The tangled vines and overgrown weeds covering the well represent our mind's endless idle thoughts. The black and the white mice represent night and day; time passes just as the mice gnaw away at the vine, until it breaks and we die. The situation the traveler is in corresponds to our everyday life, and the honey represents such things as love, friendship, family and fame. We are enticed by sweet moments, and forget the immense sufferings we face! Some people are clearly aware of the benefits of Buddhism, they know that it can lead to transcendence, and that the mundane world is full of hindrances and suffering. But with a little taste of sweet sentiment, they forget all about cultivating the Buddhist path. You need to gain some wisdom, and realize that the sweetness of such things is not really sweet at all; it is just an illusion, and can poison our Dharma bodies, tying us to transmigration in the Six Paths perpetually. When we taste a little honey, even in life or death situations, we often forget that we are suffering. We have to be wise and question if this little taste of honey is truly sweet and helptul. In the long run, being enticed by the honey hinders us. You have to think it through! The Buddha told this parable, so we have to give it some deep thought and put it to good use, or else all the Buddha's teachings and Venerable Master Miao Lien's teachings are useless and a waste of time: just gibberish.