The Second Man

Two men walk into a diner. Before they can order, two bowls are placed in front of them. Upon tasting the food, the first man spits it out and shouts spontaneously towards the kitchen, "This is disgusting," then angrily towards the waitress, "You brought me a bowl of grease!"

The waitress comes back over and tells them, "that's to remind you that samsara is suffering."

The second man is also revolted and was trying to get the grease out of his mouth with his repeated spits. The men walk out, the first man alternating between cursing loudly and mumbling under his breath, the second in confusion and silence.

They try another restaraunt. Without even ordering, the chef comes out and places two steaming bowls in front of the men with a smile. "The first man obliges with a sip of the broth, but it shot back out as fast as it went in. "This is salt water! Now, why would you bring us salt water?"

And the chef said to them that it was merely to clarify the point that samsara is unfulfilling.

By this time, the men are feeling off their game, so after a brief discussion they decide to try their luck doing something different. They need to pick up a hammer and some nails, anyway, so they stop by a hardware store that happens to be on the way home.

Navigating the well stocked isles of the hardware store, they observe that the hammers have no heads and that the nails are made out of rubber. Seeing the angry face of the first, and the perplexed face of the second man, the stock boy announces,

"Oh, we have those items especially to remind people that samsara doesn't work."

And so it was at this juncture that the first man made a silent decision to retreat to the solace of his own abode. And that he did without hesitation, soon to partake of some dinner and, he thought, maybe some television.

Now, the second man reacted quite differently. Those odd encounters had awakened his curiousity, or maybe it was wonder. And as he was ravenously hungry, the thought crossed his mind to give another restaraunt a try.

He went into the very first joint he could find, which happened to be directly across the street from the hardware store. Reaching for the door, it opened for him. He saw that he was being greeted by a sparkling and polite woman, who he assumed must be the matire-D. She took his arm and gently escorted him through the plain building and into a stunning and lush backyard garden, in the center of which was a large shapely wooden table with one large chair holding some multi-patterned cushions.

"Would this place be to your liking sir?" The man heard himself say, "Oh yes," as he could immediately see it truly was a marvelous spot.

His senses began to open in that sun-speckled yard. Flowers and greenery of every hue and geometric shape surrounded him, amusing the eye. The air was warm and the flowers were gently pushed into undulations by a caressing breeze. Bees buzzed happily, circling from flower to flower.

As he thought to sit, the maitre-D nodded, then she nimbly removed his shoes and took his jacket. Turning away and opening her wide gaze, she seemed like a conductor raising her baton at the beginning of a symphony. As she began to do whatever it was she was doing, she turned back for just a moment to address the man, saying, "By the way, this is all on the house."

Before he could even sit down on that voluptuously soft and supportive chair, which would make him like a king on a throne, a most entrancing music began to fill the garden. The sounds of lyres, tambora, and then gentle tablas began so softly, then layering back and forth, quite like the bees. He could see the musicians had been waiting behind a hedge of blueberry bushes. The bushes, he noticed, had quite a crop of the ripe blue-reddish orbs.

Out of nowhere, a heartbreakingly attractive girl was leaning over his table and asking him if he would like some of those blueberries, which, she now held before him in a festively flowered bowl. They were the most delicious berries he ever ate. She asked him if he would like his feet and shoulders massaged, and he said gratefully, and with very little hesitation, "Sure!" It wasn't long before he reached a state of immense relaxation and pleasure.

But that was only the beginning. Beautiful dancing girls silently appeared, smiling, coy and playful, moving through the garden, disturbing nothing and harmonizing everything, and a full and healthy joy arose in his mind. One after another, the waiters and waitresses brought fresh squeezes and cuts of exotic fruits, steamed vegetable and meats with many sauces he had never seen. Some came in stars cups, moons bowls and long curved pink tureens. Small presentations of the most delicate and vitalizing hot and cold appetizers were brought out, each on a different painted bowl or plate, a 1942 Krug Sparkling Nectar of a supremely refreshing taste was popped, and it was refreshing, perhaps a nourishment of the soul; its effervescence danced on his tongue, and wine flowed soft and pleasing to refresh him deeper with each taste.

Another equally unabashed lady of radiant beauty appeared. She giggled and sat down at the table along side the man. She introduced herself with some funny puns which lightened things up, then told the man stories that were just the type that he would be interested in. They had harmonius discussions about religion, spirituality, books, love, art, politics, music and much more. The man noticed that she was purely humble, but at the same time seemed to understand all those topics well. The laughed together and talked for hours, entering together deeply into that soft summer evening.

During this time the train of exquisite treats continued its course. The crescendo of foods, colors, and the many distinct and merging fragrances only supported those conversations, maybe the best conversations of his life. His new friend was such a fine conversationalist and humorist, not to mention being so endearing, that he simply lost himself in her beauty and the scene at hand.

How it worked was that, in a pure and undulating synchronicity this all came to be; the maitre-D or a waiter or waitress would appear with another delicious fruit, an appetizer, a beverage, maybe a tasty and warming filling main course. The extasy which calmly grew the entire time had by now done the work of calming his views, ideas and needs, which all seems to set along with an orange sun. It came to mind in that moment that he had greatly underestimated his life.

The bees and butterflys seemed to move like a painter's brushstokes. Whatever the man experienced in taste, sound or vision, it built even more on to the previous joy. That bliss was building and staying consistent, this stability, was something he never touched yet seemed like a distant memory.

And as that wondrous feast continued, light and vitalizing, perhaps, through his own charm, right then, his own purity opened. And he became as one in that glorius banquet that had been presented him, like entering a most beautiful picture.

In that way he thus forgot his problems and joy opened firmly in him, like the white lotus right there in the garden.

And he held the hand of his lovely conversation companion as they chatted, played and ate together. He thought he could see waves emanting between himself and the woman...certainly, he could feel them. In fact, they were emanating between all the people. It was as if the spirit of atmosphere had stepped forward and taken over and it would all be like a downstream flow of a great river from here on in.

Fully satisfied and in the finest of spirits, the man then knew that it was time to go home. But he experienced no regret, only happiness and, too, he was grateful. Turning to bid adieu and give thanks, he did however, for just a moment, hesitate.

"Why did you do all of this for me?"

The matrie-D looked into his eyes and the man saw something in her that he recognized, a wisdom and inner world he had once sensed but had not been able to stabilize. She was like a mirror showing him himself. The entire assembly of waiters stood aside, arms in front, palm over palm. The musicians and dancers gently stopped and came over to join the group, all with kindness, attending to the man. They said,

"We did it because we want you to have a sense of your capability."