The Parable Of The Two Arrows

This is a short talk on a wondeful ancient parable called the parable of the two arrows. It illustrates how pain is natural and at times inevitable, but suffering is something we do ourselves. Suryacitta also shows how to end the self inflicted suffering.

Transcript

Hello,

Thanks for listening.

I want to share with you one of the most Impactful metaphors that I've come across and it's in the form of a parable So I'm gonna cut a long parable short because I want to do this in around 10 minutes I don't want to be for three and a half hours So it's called the parable of the two arrows or the two daggers Now just before I go on guys this is a quite a graphic image from from the Buddhist tradition But it's it's for anybody.

Okay,

But it's quite graphic and it's meant to be Because it's meant to it's meant to wake us up We're meant to remember this That's why it's graphic and that's why I'm using quite graphic language,

Okay It's so that it sort of oh,

Oh Yeah It's like it has an impact it it sort of it alerts you to something that's happening Okay So The parable says that Life is like two daggers It says the first dagger just happens an unfortunate event happens We can't do anything about that.

We can't control life It might be we get too thick it might be we used to bow a toe or someone scratches the car It might be something more serious the end of a relationship or a rumor that we may lose our job Or maybe more serious still it may be that we lose a loved one Now we have natural responses to these to right the wrongs and If we have lost a loved one,

You know,

We meant to grieve we meant to feel sad There's nothing wrong with that.

We're meant to feel that grief and feel the sadness What we feel we heal It's healthy But this is the power of the two daggers so the first dagger as it were enters and That's painful.

So the life event happens,

Which is painful but what the power of thing is that we As soon as that first event has happened soon as the the first daggers entered we reach for the second one and We stab ourselves with it.

I remember I'm using graphic language to To incense to shock us a little oh Because the second dagger that the suffering there's the pain of the event Was there's the suffering that comes out of that The suffering is what we do and If we do it we can stop doing it So we reach for the second dagger and we start to in a sense metaphorically stab ourselves with it We go over the event.

How dare he say that who does he think he is?

Maybe I am useless If we've had a criticism,

For example How long does a criticism last it might be just something simple as oh that was a stupid thing to do two three seconds How long do you suffer from that criticism you can follow up with people forever Just just from a two or three minute criticism not all the time But we then carry that around with us we we keep We playing it in our head and trying to justify our our actions and trying to blame them or blame ourself Well if it's you know around a job the story might be the second dagger might be I'll never get another job.

That's it.

My life is ruined.

That's it What am I gonna do and we go over and over and over That's the mental and emotional suffering that can be avoided that can be seen ah So I want this to be practical we can see ourselves reaching and using the second dagger We use it with our thinking but our overthinking This doesn't mean that all thinking is the second dagger We may need to sit down and reflect on it with a little bit of perspective.

I okay.

I might be losing my job What do I do?

That's reflecting on the situation or if it's a criticism maybe Maybe he's just in a bad mood.

Maybe you know whatever yeah,

We can reflect on the situation.

That's not the second dagger It's the unconscious or the subconscious whirling around an event You know what I mean because we all do it I still do it.

I just do it a lot less than I used to and And that's the wonder of this we can stop doing it we can begin to notice.

Oh,

There's a second dagger.

I'm using it now All the thinking is a habit it will continue for a while But once we start to bring the light of awareness the light of attention to it And to actually see ourself doing it see the mind and what it's up to it begins to weaken And it's a wonderful process.

It's a wonderful experience when you start to see yourself putting down the second dagger ah My goodness I don't need I don't need to use this All this thinking doesn't doesn't need to happen.

It's not necessary How wonderful?

You realize that for years you've been creating Your own suffering because of your overactive imagination overactive thinking And That's what this parable is pointing to pain Happens pain will continue,

But suffering in the way that I'm talking about it doesn't need to That's what we do the suffering in the way,

I'm describing it is optional it's a habit Because we think if I think about something long enough You know it'll fix it And it doesn't Reflection can help This mental proliferation as I call it doesn't help Just keeps us upset anxious afraid angry resentful It just keeps all that open running so start to notice when you're using the second dagger Pick some simple events.

Maybe a criticism.

Maybe somebody cut you up when you're driving And notice how you reach for the second dagger,

And you want to crucify that person are you?

No,

Yeah,

You start blaming yourself for not speaking up or whatever it is Start to notice There it is.

There's the second dagger So we're identifying the thinking rather than identifying with the thinking see the difference I'm having a thought My life's ruined and I'll never amount to anything For example I'm having the thought Dot-dot-dot it's not a fact Even though the mind will tell you it's a fact it's not It's a story It's a story It's a story and we keep telling ourselves these stories so we we come to believe them Start to notice start to observe.

Oh my goodness All this thinking how is it making me feel is it helpful no It isn't helpful It's just a habit And Awareness starts to weaken the habit So identify the thinking rather than identifying with the thinking Takes time to start to weaken the system because it's a system that it's just been running Just merrily going around every time something happens the system kicks in and off we go Begin To observe your mind in meditation and in daily life Just pick a small minor event pick one event today and notice what the mind makes of it Thank you,

Bye-bye

Reviews

I agree completely with the wisdom contained in this poem. Thank you for sharing it.

You did a great job explaining this parable thank you

Wow! How interesting! It's an excellent parable and so well told. You make me smile during your meditations. Thank you.
🙏🙏🤺🤺😊

A very interesting analogy. Aging makes it harder to rationalise in that way.

Thank you 🙏 I love this parable and your explanation of it’s meaning is so well done and received.
🙏✨💛😊🕊️💫

🙏 You helped me so much with my story, and I can now start healing the pain🙏

Wow! I wish I had learned this decades ago! I have used a huge quiver of arrows in my life. I wonder how much unnecessary pain and suffering I could have avoided. 🤔
Thank you for this very thought-provoking recording.

This was a well addressed presentation of the two daggers. As for the introduction of trigger warning, as our society become so pathetic that we have to spend so much time worrying about a quote, graphic image” that is naught but words? The news and the entertainment media provides images markedly more graphic every day. I would assume our community of meditators is much better armed to manage such issues and we observe no such warnings when watching the news. Maybe my concern over this is my second arrow. We continue to explore. My two cents.

This is my first exposure to this presenter and I look forward to more excellent work to ponder. Thank-you.

I love your clear, direct explanation of the 2 arrows/daggers! Priceless!
Thank YOU 🙏

This is a great reminder of how I am responsible for my own suffering by using that second dagger 🗡 So many years of practice. I will listen to this again and again. In gratitude 🙏

I am going to try the suggestion of looking at a thought. I am quite excited to see what I make of that. This was a very helpful story.

Thank you for telling us this parable. You have just helped me to find a way to cope with current difficulties in my life. Thank you for sharing this with the Earth Family 🙏🏻🌈🌟

I really love this parable and today it was explained with such a warmth and kindness

You explain it so simply and effectively with good humour. Observe and reflect don't buy into your thoughts and twist the dagger.