The Tibetan Spider
By deeeky
@deeeky (3667)
Edinburgh, Scotland
March 12, 2008 9:18pm CST
A Tibetan student was practicing meditation in his cell when a spider descended from the ceiling and hung suspended in front of him.
It slowly spun around, attached to the end of its web, until the novice
tried to catch it, at which point it raced back up to the ceiling in a
second.
Every day for a week the student's meditation was disturbed by the spider.
It even seemed that it was getting bigger, that it was becoming more
adventurous, and sometimes tried to swing back and forth in front of him,
with all its legs spread wide.
"This spider is bothering me," thought the novice, "and making fun of
me. I'll catch it one day, I know will!"
He became so upset that he went to ask the advice of his Spiritual Master.
"I hid a knife in my sleeve while I was meditating," he said. "I wanted to
kill the spider when it came down, but I didn't succeed. It disappeared the
moment I thought about catching it."
"Replace your knife with a piece of chalk," the Master replied, "and make a
cross on the spider's back each time it disturbs your meditation. Come back and
see me in a week."
A week later the novice returned to his Master's cell and knelt down before
him, his head lowered.
"Lift your robe and look at yourself," the Master instructed.
To his great surprise, the novice saw a big X drawn on his own chest.
_________________
This short parable may seem absurd, and yet it contains a profound truth.
The spider that disturbed the novice during his meditation was his own bad
conscience, which always surfaces when we are most relaxed. And what do we do?
We accuse it of trying to harm us, we say that it is someone else, we seek a
threatening monster to fight with. But the monster, the spider, is our own
self.
We have to be able to look at ourselves objectively in order to
overcome our worries, before they assume a form that we have not chosen.
"Know thyself!"
This phrase is attributed to Socrates, but it also appears on the
facade of the Temple of Delphi. 2500 years later it is still relevant, and
will always remain so!
1 person likes this
2 responses
@Darkwing (21583)
•
13 Mar 08
Thank you for sharing this, Deeeky. I never had a problem like this when I was meditating, but then, there were possibly other forms that were my bad conscience.
Much the same can be said of dreams. They're never what they seem to be... more an image of your inner self, viewed from the outside. A sort of "out of body" experience. For instance, if you see a monkey hanging or swinging from a tree, it means that you be troubled by young ones. If you're a monkey, this signifies that you have been, betrayed by someone whom you thought cared about your interests, and whom you thought you could trust.
Similarly, these "dreams" can happen during meditation, as you say, whilst your most relaxed, and in deep sleep.
Brightest Blessings, my dear friend. x
Fascinating to hear that we can meditate and bring dreams on. Is it really possible to remember these dreams when coming out of meditation?
There has been times when I have had a good dream and ssid to myself I must write that one down so that I can reflect on it but again I forget what the dream was about so it goes undocumentated.
@xXxMikesWifeyxXx (3072)
• United States
13 Mar 08
I dont meditate so i wouldnt know anything about any of this . though it wad fasinating to read:) thanks!
