Master Tells Stories

Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai, Hsihu, Formosa
Dec. 23, 1995 (Originally In English)

There was a priest. He cultivated a beautiful, large, lovely, fresh, green, flowering garden. He loved flowers, so he spent a great deal of time in caring for them so that his garden blossomed with life and all kinds of colorful flowers of choice. But then some weeds grew in the garden, such as dandelions.

These weeds actually taste very nice if you want to eat them. The tender leaves of dandelions are very very good in salad. I used to go for walks in Germany, when I was still there, to the countryside with a basket. When I came back, the basket was full of weeds, wild plants like dandelions or something else, I can't remember the names. Maybe what Milarepa used to eat -- nettles. Some leaves are very prickly if you touch them, but you can eat the heart of nettles and many other plants along the countryside. Then I made beautiful, fresh, nourishing salad.

In the garden of the man, he loved flowers of all kinds, so he planted a lot of flowers. But the dandelions were always there invading his country, his garden. So he tried all kinds of means to get rid of the weeds, but he could never ever succeed. The weeds were always there.

So he was very fed up and he asked all kinds of experts what to do about the weeds. No one had any clue. Then one day, someone recommended to him a Father Superior in another monastery, "He has never turned anyone away without a solution. He must, probably, have a solution for your weedy garden."

So here went the priest, "bon-bon-bon-bon," over there. He asked the Abbot, the Father Superior what to do about the weeds. The Father asked him, "Do you weed them out?"

He said, "Yes, I do every day. But they grow again the next day, even more."

"Did you put some of that stuff like chemicals?"

"Yes, I did, but after some time the dandelions got used to the chemicals and then they grew fatter, greener and lusher than before."

So the Father Superior continued asking him if he used all kinds of expertise methods to weed out the dandelions from his garden.

So, the priest said, "Yes, Yes. I did this, did that, did everything; and the dandelions are still there."

So the Father Superior sat there with the man for a while, meditated, and maybe prayed to the supreme Father in heaven. After a while, the Father Superior told the priest, "Okay, if you can't get rid of them, then you have to learn to love them."

Sometimes we have a lot of weaknesses on our spiritual path and in our daily lives. We try all our best to get rid of them. If we can, well and good. If we truly, honestly try our best and we can't get rid of them, it's fine. If we cannot, learn the dandelion way. Love them and just ignore them. Don't fight with them. Just do our job. Just look at the other flowers that you like. Try to develop other qualities in yourself that are more suitable for a practitioner, are more beautiful for your personality. Just ignore the weaknesses. Maybe they'll die alone. If not, and no one looks at them, then you just forget them, like they don't exist. It's difficult but you can practice.