Potatoes to carry!

Once a sage gave an empty sack and a basket of potatoes to one of his disciples and said

"Think of all the people who have done or said something against you in the recent past, especially those you cannot forgive.

For each of them, plz inscribe their names on a potato and put it in the sack."

The disciple came up with quite a few names, and soon his sack was heavy

with potatoes.

"Carry the sack with you wherever you go for a week," said the sage. "We'll talk after that."

Carrying heavy sack was not so difficult in the begining. But after a while, it felt like a burden. By and by it required more of effort to carry even though weight remained the same.

After a few days period, the sack started smelling. The carved potatoes gave off a ripe odor. Disciple felt inconvenient and unpleasant.

The sage summoned the disciple and enquired the experience of later.

"Yes, Master," the disciple replied. "When we are unable to forgive others, we carry negative feelings with us everywhere, much like these potatoes. That negativity becomes a burden to us and, after a while, it festers."

"That is exactly what happens when one holds a grudge. So, how can we lighten the load?"

"We must strive to forgive."

"Forgiving is like removing corresponding load of potato from the sack. How many of your transgressors are you able to forgive?"

"I've thought about it a bit, Master," the disciple said. "It required much effort, but have decided to forgive all of them."

"Very well, we can remove all the potatoes. Were there any more people who transgressed against you this last week?"

The disciple thought for a while and admitted there were. Then he felt panic when he realized his empty sack was about to get filled up again.

"Master," he asked, "if we continue like this, wouldn't there always be potatoes in the sack week after week?"

"Yes, as long as people speak or act against you in some way, you will always have potatoes."

"But Master, we can never control what others do. So what good is the Tao in this case?"

"We're not at the realm of the Tao as yet.

Everything we have talked about so far is the conventional approach to forgiveness.

It is the same thing that many philosophies and most religions preach - we
must constantly strive to forgive, for it is an important virtue. This is not the Tao because there is no striving in the Tao."

"Then what is the Tao, Master?"

"You can figure it out. If the potatoes are negative feelings, then what is the sack?"

"The sack is... that which allows me to hold on to the negativity. It is something within us that makes us dwell on feeling offended.... Ah, it is my inflated sense of self-importance."

"And what will happen if you let go of it?" "Then... the things that people do or say against me no longer seem like such a major issue."

"In that case, you won't have any names to inscribe on potatoes. That means no more weight to carry around, and no more bad smells.

The Tao of forgiveness is the conscious decision to not just to remove some potatoes... but to relinquish the entire sack.