Thought I’d share a story from Lao Tzu which I’d read a long while ago, one that just stayed in the mind:
The emperor of China once asked Lao Tzu to become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the country. The emperor said the law and order situation in the country was in bad shape and he needed someone wise to guide the system in the country.
Lao Tzu said he was not the right man for that, but the Emperor was insistent, and he was after all the Emperor.
Lao Tzu agreed to do it for one day, saying, the one day would make the emperor realize why it wouldn’t work.
On the first day, he heard a case of theft. The thief had stolen a large amount of money from a very wealthy man. After hearing the case, Lao Tzu declared that the thief should go to jail for two years, and then he said the wealthy man should also go to jail for two years.’
The man from whom the amount was stolen was quite naturally shocked, and asked why he should be going to jail when he was actually the victim of the crime. And he shouted ‘this is gross injustice, the money is stolen from me and this man wants me to go to jail. What’s become of this country?’
Lao Tzu said, Ýes, it is gross injustice, you should actually be going to jail for longer as the crime you have committed is bigger. In hoarding so much money, you have deprived so many people of money, what you are guilty of is greed, of having way more than you need’
And Lao Tzu told the emperor, ‘you see, It’s not about law and order, it’s your entire system that is wrong’
End of story :)
This is not about communism, not about the system enabling equity at any level. In fact I'm far from communist...... I believe in the Self, in the spirit of the Individual. But I also love this story.
Life is about paradoxes you know. And if you have the patience and the will to look, they will unravel themselves to reveal an overarching picture of beauty and truth.
End of story :)
This is not about communism, not about the system enabling equity at any level. In fact I'm far from communist...... I believe in the Self, in the spirit of the Individual. But I also love this story.
Life is about paradoxes you know. And if you have the patience and the will to look, they will unravel themselves to reveal an overarching picture of beauty and truth.
The title and the matter ,what is the connect?
ReplyDeleteJust taking this story as an example, the accepted view is that the thief is the criminal and the one stolen from is the victim. It’s pretty clear and unilateral. Whereas, Lao Tzu sees both as perpetrators of the crime and deserving equal punishment. And that’s the radically different view.
ReplyDeleteHe seems to take that one extra step to ask the why. Why did the thief need to steal?
Another instance that comes to mind: Per law suicide is a crime. That sad soul, added to the pressure of life is this awareness that he or she better not fail, else you land in jail. Is that right? Shouldn't we be asking the why? Per the vedic way of life, mahasamadhi (being able to die at will, albeit with enlightenment) is actually a positive, an aspirational goal so to say. Diametrically different no?
It's a nice Story. What u liked much frm it? The picture attracted me to go in to the matter. "Music in the Soul can be heard by the universe" but the theme of the caption missed.....I think....
ReplyDeleteYaaaaa... This type of justice is always preferable...in society... Change in the minds of people.......is criteria..
Vineyard Grapes
Oh Ok. Kind of linked the picture to the content rather than the heading to content.
ReplyDeleteThat is the power of visual over words.
The visual actors in a movie puts the most powerful dialogues into an appealing mode.
Similarly instinctively was matching the picture to content.
Yes. It is the duty of Dharma to see why a thief steals and from where he steals.
Nyaya says first punish the thief for the act of theft and then probe and prove that the guy with loads of money has it illegally.
It is always a battle between Dharma and Nyaya.
Yep, I see where this got skewed. My bad; thanks for the catch both of you, :)
ReplyDeleteTo the statement 'Nyaya says first punish the thief for the act of theft and then probe and prove that the guy with loads of money has it illegally'.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds right; and to take it a step further....even if the process was legal, the question would be, why would he want to have so much money? I understand capitalism and the urge to generate wealth, that's actually the positive part, but to hoard it? Is there a way out of that greed bit? This is where I think Osho’s concepts could have the potential solution.
Excellent post however I was wanting to know if you could
ReplyDeletewrite a litte more on this subject? I'd be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit further.
Thanks!
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