Once, long ago, a man received a wonderful present from a master; a magical monkey that could do anything the man asked of it. Well, of course he was thrilled!
He took the monkey along with him and asked it to do all sorts of useful things. In no time at all, it would finish each task and come running back for the next order. The Man had the monkey build him a palatial house. In no time at all the monkey had finished it.
Now our friend was really thrilled. What’s not to like? The Man went to bed for the night and found out. The monkey kept pestering him. “Now what do you want me to do? What next?”.
The Man could never rest, ever! Day and night the monkey hounded him with requests for more work, which it finished in no time.Then it was back for more.
At his wits end, the man went back to his master. “Help! You’ve got to give me a way to deal with this monkey so that it doesn’t keep on bothering me day and night! What can you do?”.
The master gave him one curly hair. He intoned, “Have the monkey make the hair go straight.”. The master demonstrated pulling the hair straight. As soon as he let go, the hair bounced back to its former shape.
That was it. The man took the hair and gave it to the monkey, ordering it to make the hair straight. The monkey sat down, fully focused on the little hair. He pulled it straight. It bounced back. He pulled it again. It bounced back again. So it went for about a minute.
The man raced to his bed and gratefully passed out.
A Buddhist Concept