The vessel with boiling water

At a monastery, a saint was delivering a sermon to a group of disciples. After the end of the sermon, disciples were asking their teacher questions and he was answering them. After some question answers, a disciple raised his hand and then asked his question upon getting the nod from his teacher. "Oh revered teacher, why do we have negative emotions like anger, jealousy, hatred and how do they affect us ?" he asked. "You will get your answer later, now it is time for prayer and we must head to the prayer hall", said the teacher as he stood up and walked towards the exit. The student who asked the question got a little frustrated, a little angry at not receiving his answer when he asked for it, though he could not do much about it and walked out with the others.

The way to the prayer hall of the monastery was through a garden. Adjoining it was a small shed under which there were some utensils and a fireplace to cook. The teacher stopped by the shed and asked for a few student volunteers. He asked them to fill two vessels with water. One he asked them to place on the floor, and other he asked them to place on the fire place. They placed wood under it and lit a fire as per the teacher's instructions. Then they left the shed and made way for the prayer hall.

After the prayer they returned to the shed. The teacher asked the disciples to go inside the shed and narrate what they saw. "Water in the vessel over the fire is boiling and has reduced to less than half the quantity in this time", said the disciples, "while the one not on fire is still, calm and quantity is same as much as we had left". The teacher smiled and said, "your observations answer the last question after the sermon. As the question has two parts, let me also answer the question in two parts". The disciples all moved away from the vessel with the boiling water as it was too hot and stood nearer to the other vessel.

"Why do we get negative emotions was the first question. We get negative emotions because of our own shortcomings. When I said that I would answer later, the disciple who asked the question got a little angry, a little frustrated, that was because of his impatience. One must remember everything happens at the right time, one must learn to be patient and wait for when their time comes. The wait must be a happy wait, a wait of faith and not a frustrated one. Certain things are not in our hands, that is very important to understand. Jealousy is when we see someone else have what we don't. Doubt in one's own ability causes jealousy. If you are confident in yourself, you will look at others as a source of inspiration, not as a source of envy. Hatred comes when you feel someone has wronged you. Holding on to hatred and to grudges only makes you suffer, the other person does not get affected by it, so one must learn to forgive and move on. So as you see, most negative emotions have roots in our own mind. Only we can eliminate them", he said while the disciples were all glued to what the saint was saying and absorbed every word he uttered.

"Now for the second part of the question, how do these negative emotions affect us? Our life is like the water contained in a vessel, eventually the water has to evaporate. But negative emotions like anger, jealousy, hatred etc are like the fire under the vessel. The water in that vessel which is heated by the fire is boiling, it's agitated and evaporating very quickly, while water in the other vessel is calm and evaporating very slowly. Negative emotions have the same effect on our minds and lives, they take away our peace, make us frustrated, agitated and also have the ability to reduce life span", said the teacher. He then asked the disciples to observe another thing, "where are all of you standing ?" he asked. The disciples all looked around and said they were standing away from the heated vessel. "This is another thing that negative emotions do, they make you repulsive, people will prefer to stay away from you, no one would like to be close to you. You might end up alone in life if you are unable to keep your negative emotions in control. We all have negative emotions, we are humans after all, but we must learn to keep them in control. That is quality we need to learn. Remember, the fire of negative emotions has the potential to burn down homes, learning to keep this fire in check, is of utmost importance", he told his disciples and asked them to move out to the garden area.

He called the disciple who has asked the last question to the front of the group. "Thank you for asking this good question", he said. "I hope the practical answer would have cleared your doubts and hence forth when asked to wait, you would do so patiently and happily", said the saint addressing the entire group of disciples. They all nodded and smiled in acknowledgement, folded their hands and bowed down, showing their respect of their wise teacher.