The Monk And Chocolate Ice Cream, A Buddhist Tale About The Ego
Many times we have heard the ego named as the cause of pride or the culprit of a person’s suffering in the face of an unwanted situation. But… what exactly is the ego and how does it affect our happiness?
For Western psychology it is a representation that we have made of ourselves. Instead, from the Buddhist point of view the ego is an activity , the recurring tendency to identify with anything that maintains that representation that we believe to be.
With this Buddhist tale we will see how this identification keeps us separate from the world and brings us suffering and dissatisfaction, apart from fostering competitiveness. Enjoy the reading.
A Chocolate Flavored Ego Test
Joel had come three years before to one of the oldest Buddhist communities in Tibet and there he longed to be ordained to become an exemplary monk.
Every day at dinner, he would ask his teacher if his ordination ceremony would be held the next day. “You are not ready yet, you must first work humility and dominate your ego,” his mentor replied.
The young man did not understand why the teacher was referring to his ego
One day the master came up with a way to show his disciple that he was not ready yet. Before starting the meditation session, he announced: “Whoever meditates better will have an ice cream as a prize. ” “Chocolate,” added the old man.
After a brief uproar, the youth of the community began to meditate. Joel set out to be the best meditator of all his peers. “In this way, I will show the teacher that I am ready for ordination. And I’ll eat the ice cream ”, concluded the disciple.
The young Buddhist tries to meditate
Joel managed to focus on his breathing, but at the same time he visualized a large chocolate ice cream that came and went as if on a swing. “It can’t be, I have to stop thinking about the ice cream or someone else will win it, ” he repeated to himself.
With much effort, Joel managed to meditate for several minutes in which he simply followed the rhythm of his breathing, but immediately he imagined one of the monks sucking on the chocolate ice cream. “Damn it, I must be the one to get it!” Thought the anguished young man.
When the session ended, the teacher explained that everyone had done well, except for someone who had thought too much about ice cream, that is, in the future. Joel sat up before saying:
-Master, I thought about the ice cream. I admit it. But how can you know that I was the one who thought too much ?
The ego is discovered
-I can not know it. But I can see that you have felt so alluded to get up and try to place yourself above your peers. This is how the ego works, dear Joel : it feels attacked, questioned, offended… and it pretends to be right in the game of being superior to others.
That day, Joel learned that he still had a long way to go. He worked on his humility and ego impulses. He lived in the present and did not try to be above the rest. He also understood that it was not convenient for him to identify with his achievements.
Thus, with work and patience, the big day arrived. It was the one in which the teacher knocked on his door to announce that he was finally ready for what he had longed for.
When he got to the temple he found no one there. Just a small platform and on it … a chocolate ice cream. Joel managed to enjoy the ice cream gratefully, without being disappointed. And then they ordered him.
Humility has a prize
Each person has their particular chocolate ice cream: what they want to achieve. The problem lies in having our mind set on it, preventing us from enjoying the present.
If we can detect our ego and deactivate it, we automatically abandon the need to criticize, argue, compete or judge. Thus, we get rid of the role of victim, of the suffering that comes with not meeting the demands of the ego … And we get to enjoy ice cream!
* Original story by Mar Pastor.
Last image courtesy of Nadezda Murmakova / Shutterstock.com
