The Nature Of Things

This Good Friday, I went, as I do every Friday, to Brixton prison to talk to a group of prisoners who have expressed a wish to study the Buddhist way of life and meditation. That day was quite warm, so we talked about nature. Nature changes on its own accord all the time; it cannot be blamed or complained about; it cannot be questioned and so forth. "Nature is just nature" is the main conclusion.

Then we came to talk about human nature. Why do people make war? Why do they not love one another ? Why do they blame each other? Why do they harm each other? We came to exactly the same conclusion: "Human nature is just human nature". This reminded me of a Zen story, and so I recounted it to them. Here it is:

There were two monks who were washing their bowls in the river. Suddenly they both noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process he was stung. He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion fell in. The monk saved the scorpion and was again stung. The other monk asked him, "Friend, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know its nature is to sting?""Because," the monk replied, "to save it is my nature."

"It is just its nature", is an answer to every question. We have no need to discuss the question why for it is just nature.

There is another version of this story. Here is the story:

There was a scorpion who wanted to cross the river, but he could not swim. He stood at the bank of the river hopelessly. Suddenly a fox passed by. A light of hope shone in the scorpion’s mind. He asked the fox to carry him across the river. The fox refused to do so, saying to the scorpion, "You will sting me to death". The scorpion promised the fox he wouldn’t, saying, "How could I sting you? If I were to, we will both die in the stream. I promise you that I will not sting you". So the fox agreed to carry the scorpion on his back across the river, on condition that the scorpion would not sting him. But the scorpion did indeed sting the fox when they were in midstream. As the fox began to drown, taking the scorpion with him, he pleadingly asked why the scorpion had jeopardized both of them by stinging him. The scorpion said, "Because to sting is my nature."

The story teaches us that we must be aware of nature. If we understand nature, it will not harm us or others as we know how to deal with it. It is like an expert who knows how to deal with something dangerous. For example, a man who works in the zoo can deal with dangerous animals because he knows the animals’ nature.

Do you know your nature? If you do know, that is a good thing for you. If you don’t know, you are in trouble as it can harm you and people around you. You must learn to know or understand your own nature, before it harms you and others.