The tale of the old farmer
In an ancient Chinese kingdom there was once a farmer, one day his only horse ran away. Upon hearing this some of his fellow villagers went to tell him how unfortunate this was, to which he calmly answered, “maybe”.
The next day his son went to look for the horse. He not only found the missing horse, but came back with three other wild horses. The villagers once more gathered to tell him how lucky he was; he answered with his characteristic “maybe”.
That same evening his son was trying to tame one of the wild horses, but he broke his leg in the process. When the villagers learned about this in the morning they rushed to the old man who depended so much on his son. “What a catastrophe!” they said. “Maybe” is all they heard.
Soon after, an emissary of the King came to declare that all able bodied young men were to be conscripted for war…
I think by now you can tell where this is going. To which I hope you will answer, “maybe”.
This old Chinese tale reminds us of an important truth: We can never a prior know if a blessing is disguised as a curse, or vice-versa.
The old man seems to have understood one of the important messages of the Buddah’s second noble truth: do not stay attached to the outcome of things.