The Bird Hunter

One day a hunter was hiking in the mountains stalking his favorite game which was birds; however, on this particular day he saw not one bird, and eventually became hungry and tired. The sun was setting in the west, and as evening was settling the surroundings were becoming dark, in fact so dark that he lost his way. Being a man of the hills, the hunter finally decided to walk slowly in a southern direction since his house was in the south.

Suddenly, while wondering in the woods a mountain lion jumped out in front of his path and let out a ferocious roar. The hunter, who now had completely forgot about being hungry, tired, and lost, ran as fast as he could. He knew that his small gun was for killing birds and would not protect him from mountain lions. He was running wildly, completely unaware of where he was running; and just as the mountain lion was about to grab him, he fell into a deep miner’s shaft in the ground.

As he began to fall down the mine shaft he caught onto a strong vine which stopped his fall, and he thought to himself, “Oh my God, I’m safe.” He was dangling from the vine and could still see above him the mountain lion roaring viciously. Just as he had re-gathered his senses and was feeling safe, he heard a strange noise below. He looked down, and saw three huge venomous king cobras anxiously waiting for him to fall. At this point the hunter didn’t know what to do, for he could not climb up or climb down and now he was feeling desperate.

At about this time he heard very faint noises and he realized that they were coming from immediately above him where the vine was growing out of the mine shaft wall. As the hunter looked up and saw a black and a white mouse gnawing away at the base of the vine. He now returned to his feelings of desperation; yet at the same time his mind was now totally clear of all wants and desires, and he was only experiencing a feeling that he must already be dead. His mind totally emptied.

At this point he heard the buzzing of several bees flying about the mine shaft and he could just make out in the faint moonlight that there was a hive and these bees were making honey. The honey from the hive was actually dripping down the vine. The hunter tasted the honey, which was the sweetest taste he had ever experienced in his life, and his only thought was that he was hungry, and so began eating the honey. At this point he forgot about the mountain lion, he forgot about the mice, and he forgot about the king cobras. He was so hungry and so happy that he only relished in his sweet treat of honey.

The hunter is only relishing in the sweetness of the honey, even though he will soon be dead. However, there is only one path of life, what is this path to life?

Dochong’s Comments: The mountain lion represents uncertainty. The black and white mice represent past and future time. The three king cobras manifest anger, greed, and ignorance, which are the three bad karmas. The honey represents the infinite attachments of enjoying life. The hunter represents us.