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Comparison

There was a very famous Samurai. He was very proud for his strength and wisdom due to countless battle and near death experience. That makes him felt that he's the strongest ! However he is not satisfied, he still eager to grow stronger.

One day he came to see a Zen Master. He wanted to see if the Zen master is stronger than him and he would seek a fair fight with him. Upon entering the hall, samurai gazing at the Zen master. When the Zen master look back ,the samurai feel like as if there's a strong wind that blew all his emotion away.. He can't even gather his thought of drawing his sword..in spite of having fought for justice and victory all his life, he hadn’t even come near the state of grace achieved by the man before him.

He asked the Zen master: “Why I am feeling inferior after seeing you Master? When I entered your court suddenly I felt inferior, But I have never felt like this before. I have faced death many times, But never felt any kind of fear, Why now I am feeling frightened?”

The Zen master breath in and replied calmly: “Wait. Once I have attended to all those who come to see me today, I shall answer you.”

Whole day the samurai wait there. People continued to come and go whole day in search of advice. . Samurai getting more and more impatient , but he remain cool and wait for his turn. By evening the room finally became empty. The samurai grab this opportunity and rush toward the Zen master and demanded : “Now the room is empty ! Give me an answer! “

The Zen master replied with a smile, and take the samurai outside the room . Here they are in a beautiful flower garden and the clear river show the reflection of the bright, wonderful moon. It was a full moonlit night. and the atmosphere was one of profound tranquility.

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“Do you see the moon, how beautiful it is? Her light will cross the entire firmament, the tree, the river, are being shine beautifully under the moon and form this wonderful scenery. Tomorrow the sun will shine once again.But sunlight is much brighter, and can show the details of the landscape around us: we can see green trees, green mountains, white clouds under the clear blue sky.I have contemplated the two for years, and have never heard the moon say: why do I not shine like the sun? Is it because I am inferior?”

“Of course not,” answered the samurai. “The moon and the sun are different things, each has its own beauty.You cannot compare the two.”

The Zen master replied, “Than you need not to ask me why you feel inferior before me. You know the answer now.”

Isn't it a wonderful story? The Zen master uses sun and moon to demonstrate to us that there isn't a need for us to compare with others. Because each of us has our own characteristic, we are unique and different from one and other. Each of us fighting in our own way for that which we believes, and making it possible to make dream come true.

So, if we sometimes feel a sense of inferiority or superiority over others, remind yourself that we are seeing the world through the filter of our ego, not the spirit.

The spirit knows that no one person is more important than another. Each of us are here to experience a unique life experience, so we each have our own paths and destiny.

Let me share with you my own experience. Compare with each others actually distract you from growing .. Because your focus so much on what others are doing. You got no time to develop your own wisdom and knowledge as you're busy comparing with others..

What make it worse is that, thru comparison you form a habit to actually filter person into two category. one is people who are inferior to you and the other is the one who are superior than you. You will tend to look down towards people who are inferior to you and envy those who are superior than you. This is bad as you will eventually hurt your relationship with friend and family.

Therefore feel good about yourself .. Be yourself and live life according to your heart. =)

“Comparison is the death of joy.”
― Mark Twain