There was a scholar who was to
marry his fiance, but on the day of
marriage, his fiance changed her mind and married someone else.
The
scholar was devastated and fell ill. His family seeked all kinds
of
medical treatment for him, but still he showed no sign of
recovery.
They were about to give up hope on him when a wandering monk
passed
by. After learning about the scholar's condition, the monk
walked
to the scholar's bed and took out a mirror for the dying man to
see.
In the mirror, the scholar saw a vast ocean, and the naked body
of
a murdered woman lay on the beach. A man passed by, looked at
the
body, shook his head and left. Another man who passed by saw the
body,
took off his robes to cover the body and left. Finally came a
man
passing by who saw the body, dug a hole and laid the body carefully
to rest
before burying it.
The scene in the mirror suddenly changed. The scholar saw his
fiance in a nuptial chamber and another man was lifting her
wedding
veil...
The scholar blinked at the monk, confused.
Slowly the monk explained, "The woman whose body you saw on
the
beach as your fiance in her previous life. In your previous life,
you
were the second man who gave her his robes to cover her body. To
repay
your kindness in this lifetime, she loved you for a period of time
and
became your fiance. However, ultimately the man whose favor she
has
to return for the rest of her life is the third man who buried
her.
And that man is now her husband."
Enlightened, the scholar sat up and recovered from his
depression.
It is truly amazing -- this thing called "Fate". There was a movie
in
which the theme song went like this: "You can say it is a big
world,
you can say it is a small world. But for the promise of this
lifetime,
we shall spend our entire lives to fulfil."
All of us are in this big grand masquerade, among the throng
of
people, we seek expectantly... in that electrifying moment
when
our fingers touch, the masks are removed to reveal our true
selves.
Before this moment, we were drifting aimlessly, not knowing what
we
really wanted. Till you meet this particular person, you
finally
realize what you really want is not what you have wished for in
the
first place. It amazes you that standing in front of this person
is
a different you! You without any mask!
Fate is not something meant to be forced upon.
What is yours will eventually come to your arms;
what is not yours will never come to be.
In any case, we should not lose heart and give up on our hopes
for
love that is true, good and beautiful. The value of life, in
a
certain sense, is determined by the maturity of how we love. Of how
we give
and accept love.
Treasure what you have...
Time is too slow for those who wait;
Too swift for those who fear;
Too long for those who grief;
Too short for those who rejoice;
But for those who love...
Time is Eternity!
