The emergency
As in every religion (or worldview), there are also places in
Buddhism to which people go on pilgrimage to connect with the
special spirituality of the area, to express wishes and ask for
fulfilment, or simply to search for their own self in peace and
quiet.
On one of these pilgrimages, a pious man once crossed an
inhospitable desert, the air was dry, the path dusty, the
destination still far. When a storm arose, he lost all
orientation, wandered about, had lost his way. Further and
further he strayed from his path, deeper and deeper into the
sandy desert his way led. He also had no more supplies, far and
wide there was no house, no human being and no animal to be seen.
As he rummaged through his pockets once more, he noticed a small
green apple that he had taken from a tree a few days ago while
passing by. Now, of course, he was happy about the unexpected
find in his pockets, but he put the apple away again, as it was
still completely unripe.
The pilgrim continued to search for his original path, but he was
hopelessly lost. His hunger grew and thirst nearly drove him mad.
Several times he thought of giving up, sitting down and falling
asleep, hoping never to wake up and escape the hardships of fate.
But again and again he thought of the small, green apple that was
just waiting to be eaten in his pocket, often taking it out,
looking at it almost lovingly, because in some way this apple
symbolised hope for him, so he put it back in his pocket and
thought to himself that he would only eat this apple in an
extreme emergency. And right now it was not yet so bad that this
extreme emergency would have occurred, so he put the apple back
into his pocket again and again.
So the apple became a strong synonym for hope for the pilgrim,
because he had something in his pocket for an emergency, he had
something he could rely on, he was not without supplies.
After wandering for a while, the exhausted man finally reached
his original path again, towards the original place, on the way
to his destination. He had saved himself, saw people again, found
water and food. When he was finally able to rest under a shady
palm tree, he pulled the apple out of his pocket and bit into the
still sour apple with relish. The apple tasted delicious, it was
the best apple he had ever eaten in his life.
The path is the goal!
When your thoughts are full of restlessness, when you cast your
eyes eagerly for pleasures
Your thirst must only increase, your thirst creates your fetters:
strong ropes.
- Buddha - honorary name of Siddharta Gautama - 560 to 480 before
the year zero
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