A Tale of Process Enlightenment

For your amusement, a little parable I wrote many years ago to illustrate a point about goals being directions and not destinations…

A peasant, wandering the hills of his native province one night, came upon two men gathered around a campfire. He introduced himself and was welcomed to the campfire.

One of the men introduced himself as a priest, the other was the Buddha. The peasant explained that he was wandering the hills looking for the road to Enlightenment– he had heard that it was in the area.

The priest smiled, “We are on that road ourselves, and will show you the way in the morning.” The Buddha smiled.

Come the morning, the priest pointed out along the dusty road. There was a shining city about an hour’s journey down the road.

“That is the place of Enlightenment, where all answers may be found and all people live in harmony with themselves and their surroundings,” said the priest. Again, the Buddha smiled.

The men set out on the road. The priest and the peasant talked about many things. The Buddha smiled occasionally. Little birds flew around the men, occasionally alighting on the shoulders of the Buddha and singing in his ear.

After they had walked for about an hour the peasant looked up from his conversation to find that the city now appeared to be two hours journey down the road. He commented on this to the priest, who replied with a comment on the tricky nature of perspective. The Buddha smiled.

The men walked for the rest of the day, and at dusk made a camp. The city lay far off, about a day’s journey away.

“This is ridiculous,” said the peasant as he brushed the dust of the road from his clothing. “We have journeyed for an entire day and we are further from Enlightenment than we were in the first place.” He sat by the fire. “Tomorrow I am going back to my farm and giving up this silly quest before I get any further from Enlightenment.”

“Look behind you,” said the priest. “Look at how far we have come from the place where we started. Even if we are no closer to Enlightenment, we have come far in our day’s journey.” He brushed the dust of the road from his clothing and sat by the fire. The Buddha smiled.

Both men were startled when the Buddha spoke. He had said little all day, and his voice was serene yet powerful when it pierced the silence.

“Look ahead of you,” he said. “Look how far we may go.” So saying, he brushed the dust of Enlightenment from his clothing and sat by the fire with the other men.