Doing the Right Thing

May 10, 2021

This morning I heard a little story from a meditation teacher during a live video broadcast, a story that brought me good cheer. So I thought I’d share the positive vibes with y’all.

Once upon a time a parrot was flying over its forest home when it saw lightning strike a tree and start a wildfire. The fire quickly spread, trapping many animals. The parrot could easily fly away and escape the flames, but it looked down upon its terrified neighbors and knew that it had to take action.

The parrot flew to a nearby lake, immersed much of its body in shallow water, flew back over the flames, and shook the remaining water droplets over the raging conflagration. Back and forth it flew from the lake to the fire, each time releasing a few drops onto the roaring wildfire.

At one point Brahma (or Zeus, or God, or whomever you prefer) looked down upon the scene with wonder and curiosity, transformed himself into an eagle, and flew alongside the parrot as it carried out its mission. “Why are you engaged in such a hopeless task?” asked the eagle. The parrot answered, “It may be hopeless, but I have to do SOMETHING to help.” Moved by the parrot’s courage and compassion, the eagle/Brahma caused a mighty rainstorm to pour down upon the animals and the forest, extinguishing the flames.

The moral of the story is: Don’t worry about feeling powerless; just do the best you can. Our world may be burning – here in California, sometimes quite literally – but small efforts like picking up trash or offering a kind word to others can have unforeseen reverberations. Integrity matters. Kindness matters. Personal responsibility matters.

When I was a teenager I learned a Buddhist principle that I’ve never forgotten. Myo no Shoran means “the inconspicuous witness,” or “the invisible observer.” It suggests that there is an unseen world, represented in the above story by the eagle, where justice and righteousness prevail. This intangible realm is sometimes called the law of cause and effect, or the law of attraction. In our earthly existence on the physical plane it may seem that no one notices our suffering or our good deeds, but in the real world behind this one all thoughts, words, and deeds have consequences.

I want to trust in myo no shoran, in the benevolent consciousness that watches and records our behavior. And usually I do believe it. But sometimes my cynical side doubts that there is any payoff for virtuous intentions or ethical behavior. Is it wishful thinking to believe in the morality of the story of the parrot and the eagle? Maybe. But it feels rewarding to imagine it. And my intuition tells me that that story speaks to a fundamental truth about the nature of reality, even if I don’t always see evidence of that truth.

So I intend to follow the humorous advice of Mark Twain: “Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest.”