The Thorn in the Flesh & the Thorn in the Heart
Once
there lived twelve monks in a forest, devoted to meditative effort. One
day when at sunset the gong had been sounded, one of the monks, an
Elder, had left the ambulatory and, for shortening the way, he went
across a grassy patch. A thorn hidden in the grass pierced the sole of
his foot. The thorn was very long and sharply pointed, and caused severe
pain as if a heated iron rod had pierced the foot.
The Elder thought to himself: “Now, shall I pull out this thorn or that other thorn that constantly pierces our heart?”
And
he thought further: “When pierced by an external thorn, there is no
fear of falling into the states of woe; but there is such danger from
that other thorn that always hurts us inwardly.”
So he ignored the pain and, walking the whole night up and down on the ambulatory, he did his meditation.
At
daybreak he gave a sign to a monk who passed. When that monk came near
and asked him what he wanted, he said: “A thorn has hurt me, friend.”
“When did it happen, venerable sir?”
“Last evening, friend.”
“But why did you not call, venerable sir? We would have come and extracted the thorn and treated the wound with oil.”
“I have striven, friend, to pull out that other thorn that constantly hurts us deep within.”
“And did you succeed, venerable sir?”
“Partly, friend.”
Source:
BPS Wheel 59 (excerpt), Kandy, Sri Lanka. Translated by Nyanaponika
Thera from the Commentary to the Samyutta Nikāya. For free distribution
only.
