The Three Wishes

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Nils
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu May 19, 2022 12:33 pm

The Three Wishes

Post by Nils »

Dorje was a poor Tibetan farmer. He lived a simple life in the countryside with his wife Pemala. He had a small hut, some yaks (sheep) and a stony wheat field. He lived in the beautiful Tibetan mountain scenery, but unfortunately his wife was very quarrelsome. She always had something to criticize about him. He, on the other hand, was very lazy and could hardly bring himself to earn the money necessary to live. So they both made life difficult for each other.

On the other hand, Dorje was very religious. He believed in Buddha and the many deities that exist in Tibetan Buddhism. Every day he prayed to the goddess Tara in front of his home altar. One day his prayers were rewarded. In a vision, the goddess Tara appeared to him. She told him that he had three wishes free.

Excited, he ran to his wife and told her about the happy event. But Pemala did not believe the vision and laughed at him, "Then wish for a more beautiful nose." In fact, Dorje had a very thick and ugly nose. Therefore, the people in the village called him potato nose because his nose looked like a fat potato. Pemala suffered a lot from her husband's ugly appearance. She wished for a handsome husband. In this respect, this wish was quite justified.

But Dorje was very offended about it. She had hit his sore spot. Angrily, he replied, "I wish that you also had such a thick and ugly nose like me. Then you can feel how I feel with my potato nose!" And indeed, Pemala immediately grew a potato nose. She was completely horrified by this. She could have been happy now that her husband Dorje could actually grant wishes. She could have seen the blessing in the situation. So now, with a clear mind, she could have thought of two really good wishes. She could have wished for a lot of money, lasting health or a child. She had actually been longing for this for a long time. Dorje could have wished for enlightenment or at least that his wife would always be happy in the future.

Instead, Pemala fixated only on her potato nose and commanded her husband, "Wish away my nose immediately." Since Dorje was somewhat stupid and used to following his wife's word, he immediately granted her wish. Now she had no nose at all, which she didn't like either. Instead of a nose, there was a big hole in her head. She was even more horrified by this than by her potato nose. She demanded of her husband, "I want to look normal again like before." Dorje granted her this wish as well. But unfortunately, all three wishes were now spent and his years of prayer practice were in vain.

Or was it not in vain after all? This is a Tibetan fairy tale. Perhaps it has a deeper background? We can understand the fat nose as the technique of meditation on the nose. In Indian yoga, there is alternate breathing, where you alternately squeeze the left and right nostril. This activates the right and left energy channels in the body (idala and pingala), which can lead to enlightenment. Dorje and his wife Pemala were actually blessed with enlightenment by Goddess Tara. Their long spiritual path was crowned with success. They had activated their enlightenment energy through breathing meditation. Then they dissolved their ego by becoming nothingness. They meditated on emptiness. That is what the hole in the head stands for. And than they became completely normal again. They lived a completely normal life, only without ego, but permanently in love, peace and happiness.
(Freely after Tibetan wisdom stories)
:cheers:
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