An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining about a very sad life, and so, one morning, sent him for some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.
“How does it taste?” the master asked.
“Salty,” spat the apprentice.
The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of salt. Together they walked in silence to the nearby lake where the apprentice was aked to swirl the salt into it.
The old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”
As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked, “How does it taste?”
“Fresh,” remarked the apprentice.
“Do you taste the salt?” asked the master.
“No,” said the young man.
At this, the master took the young man’s hands, offering the advice,
“The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things.
Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”
