[Philosophy] Which way does he go?

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

A certain man, much oppressed by the woes of poverty, Left his own home, and set out for another country.

 

He passed through land, with its villages, cities and harbors, And after a few days he lost his way.

 

And he came to a forest, thick with trees ... and full of wild beasts. There, while he was stumbling over the rugged paths, ... a prey to thirst and hunger, he saw a mad elephant, fiercely rumpeting, charging him with upraised trunk. At the same time there appeared before him a most evil demoness, holding a sharp sword, dreadful in face and form, and laughing with loud and shrill laughter. Seeing them he trembled in all his limbs with deathly fear, and looked in all directions. There, to the east of him, he saw a great banyan tree ...

 

And he ran quickly, and reached the mighty tree.

 

But his spirits fell, for it was so high that even the birds could not fly over it,

 

And he could not climb its high unscalable trunk ...

 

All his limbs trembled with terrible fear,

 

Until, looking round, he saw nearby an old well covered with grass.

 

Afraid of death, craving to live if only a moment longer,

 

He flung himself into the well at the foot of the banyan tree.

 

A clump of reeds grew from its deep wall, and to this he clung,

 

While below him he saw terrible snakes, enraged at the sound of his falling;

 

And at the very bottom, known from the hiss of its breath, was a black and mighty python,

 

With mouth agape, its body thick as the trunk of a heavenly elephant, with terrible red eyes.

 

He thought, "My life will only last as long as these reeds hold fast,"

 

And he raised his head; and there, on the clump of reeds, he saw two large mice,

 

One white, one black, their sharp teeth ever gnawing at the roots of the reed-clump.

 

Then up came the wild elephant, and, enraged the more at not catching him,

 

Charged time and again at the trunk of the banyan tree.

 

At the shock of his charge a honeycomb on a large branch

 

Which hung over the old well, shook loose and fell.

 

The man's whole body was stung by a swarm of angry bees,

 

But, just by chance, a drop of honey fell on his head,

 

Rolled down his brow, and somehow reached his lips,

 

And gave him a moment's sweetness. He longed for other drops,

 

And he thought nothing of the python, the snakes, the elephant, the mice, the well, or the bees,

 

In his excited craving for yet more drops of honey.

 

This parable is powerful to clear the minds of those on the way to freedom.

 

Now hear its sure interpretation.

 

The man is the soul, his wandering in the forest the four types of existence.

 

The wild elephant is death, the demoness old age.

 

The banyan tree is salvation, where there is no fear of death, the elephant,

 

But which no sensual man can climb.

 

The well is human life, the snakes are passions,

 

Which so overcomes a man that he does not know what he should do.

 

The tuft of reed is man's allotted span, during which the soul exists embodied;

 

The mice which steadily gnaw it are the dark and bright fortnights.

 

The stinging bees are manifold diseases,

 

Which torment a man until he has not a moment's joy.

 

The awful python is hell, seizing the man bemused by sensual pleasure,

 

Fallen in which the soul suffers pains by the thousand.

 

The drops of honey are trivial pleasures, terrible at the last.

 

How can a wise man want them, in the midst of such peril and hardship?

 

Which way does he go? Does he pull himself to the light and deny the pleasure of life to save himself for just one more day? Or does he eat the honey, enjoy the simple physical taste, and plunge into death, which is ultimately inevitable for all?

 

 

Just a little something that's been beating me over the head today.

[Guest Boomer Sprinklespax]

He stays and tastes the honey until the reeds are barely holding together, and then he tries to escape to freedom at the last second, hoping to God he doesn't fuck up on the way out.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

He does nothing.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Another thing I meant to put at the top there:

 

If YOU were in that situation, what can you honestly say that you would do, and why?

 

Personally, I'm still chewing it over a bit.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Get the fuck out of that well. (Reason, I hate snakes, don't wanna go to hell).

 

The whole point of the question is that there really are no answers suitable, because every answer means you desire it, and Jains try to get away from desire. Which is hard.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Get the fuck out of that well.

 

The whole point of the question is that there really are no answers suitable, because every answer means you desire it, and Jains try to get away from desire. Which is hard.

 

No, it's not, As I understand it (in my admittedly limited study...i hope I haven't lost the plot)

 

If he takes the honey, he is giving in to temporary and personal pleasure, forsaking spirituality for immediately tangible things.

 

Both light and dark are chewing at his hand hold, signifying that both are showing him his harmony...his middle path. This is his way to enlightenment, to deny his own personal desire and to accept the course of nature. The true discipline is to find the harmony of denying both the spiritual and that which is physical, and falling into the void

 

If he climbs out, all he is doing is attempting to fold the natural course to fit what he wants so that he might live for another day

 

 

Forrest Gump had it right when he created the concept for the bumper sticker..."Shit Happens"

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

The "Middle path" is a Buddhist approach, which is basically what separates Buddhism from Jainism.

 

I don't know where you got the passage from, but it seems directly taken from "Religions of the World" 8th Edition (format wise), and the preface to it is "Jainism, along with many other Indian religions, has historically taught that there are few yes or no answers. This has never been better illustrated than in the Jain parable of the man in the well. The story also is found in many other cultures and literatures."

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Actually I got it from a discussion on another forum. As far as the "middle path", I actually am aware that it is a buddhist approach, but is it not in essencea way to describe the same end, much like the Taoist symbol yin/yang, the Hindu(?) yoga and meditations?

 

And thank you for name dropping that book, since I was also hoping to get some references like that which I might not have thought of/found yet.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I'd try my luck with the demoness.