Butter



Frank Abagnale Sr/Jr (Christopher Walken / Leonardo Dicaprio) in the movie "Catch Me If You Can" told a little story- "Two mice fell into a bowl of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse fought and struggled until he churned that cream into butter and he crawled his way out. I am that second mouse."

While it's a neat story of unrelenting hope and courage, there is a problem with it... I don't think the second mouse knew it was in cream, and that it can be churned. In this sense, he was lucky. What is it was just plain water? It would have clung on dearly for its life right to the very last moment- so much so that it would have died an agonising death. By this perspective, well, the first mouse might have died a more peaceful death. Yes, it's extremely tricky indeed- we should treasure our lives, yet not be attached to them. Find the Middle Path and strike the golden mean of balance- and let go at the right time.
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Incidentally, here are a couple of quotes on butter...

"Churning and churning water, doesn't produce butter." -Anon

"The great master Shantideva said that just as we churn milk to extract its essence, butter, we should extract the essence of the 84,000 heaps of teachings given by Buddha Shakyamuni - this essence is Bodhicitta (the aspiration to seek liberation for one and all)." -Ribur Rinpoche JoinMailingList4LatestUpdates/Reply