This week I was reminded of a story that Doen Sensei told me a few years ago. He has repeated it a number of times since then. There was a traveler in Iraq who was traveling through the desert. He found himself stranded one night, about a mile from Baghdad. This was at a time when Baghdad was a great center of civilization; there were wonderful libraries, works of art, and pleasures of many kinds.
As was the custom, any traveler on their way to Baghdad who had not reached it by nightfall and was stranded in the desert would be taken in by the desert people and offered food and drink, and so the visitor was invited into a family’s tent. They talked, and at one point the man asked them what they thought of Baghdad. “Why, we’ve never gone to Baghdad! Why would we?” they responded. “We have everything we need right here. We have the most delicious food, and the finest drink.”
Later, they served food to the traveler. It was desert rat, and it was rancid and salty. The traveler asked for the “wonderful” drink, hoping their “finest” would wash away the taste of the rat. But it was salt water.
The moral of the story is: always see in your life if you are just one mile from Baghdad and living on rats and saltwater.
photo by jamesdale10
@Tawni – Love this story. In traditional Zen stories it seems we are often reminded to accept “what is”. This is a good reminder to expand out of our comfort zones and examine what is really going on in our lives.
Thanks, Sterling. I love the story, too, and think of it often. I’ve found it hard sometimes to find that balance between accepting “what is” (and “choosing” it, as Sensei says) and not becoming complacent. But imagining eating desert rat and drinking salt water gives me a vivid reminder that I do not want to get stuck!
I was first irritated by the moral of the story, cause I asked myself about desert rats and salty water: am I maybe not able to imagine that they could have a wonderful taste and be healthy in a desert, too?
Maybe I should learn more about seeking Baghdad?
Greetings to everybody from good old Germany!
I have been thinking about this post for some time. My initial thoughts mimicked Annette’s – if i like like rats and salt water why go anywhere? But as i thought about it more – i realized that the things in my life that might compare to rats and salt water, really are unfortunate, if I am honest with myself. And that it is only fear, my fear, that convinces me that rats and salt water are fine – it is only my fear that keeps me from moving toward Baghdad.
The first thing that came to my mind when I read the story was what Liz said. Fear often keeps me from doing things and tells me that everything is just fine as it is in my safety-zone. Practice makes me seeing more and more in which areas of my life I live on desert rat and salt water. And only if I start to allow myself to see how things really are I am able to make a change or to „choose what is“.
This is a good story that really made me think.
My fellow on Orkut shared this link with me and I’m not dissapointed that I came here.
@Pirsey
Thank you very much for your kind comment. What is Orkut?
We are very happy to have you join in our dialogue -multilogue would probably be more accurate.