A sad case

There is a sad case that I should have told last week.

The day after I and grandma had happily planted the two cactus, I went to grandma's house and realise, oh, the old cactus was gone!

Stunned at the empty pot and not sure what had happened, I quickly went and asked my grandma. She said, " Nei, Lucky and Happy (the two dogs in the house) had eaten it.."

I was really in a disbelief. How would they bite or engulf such a prickly old cactus? @.@

I was about to throw my temper at the dogs but a thought flashed through my mind. It was a story about a monk who has his most favourite pot of flowers broken by his disciple. His disciple was so frightened that he would be scolded when he told his master about this. Surprisingly, the master laughed instead and said, "I planted this flower to appreciate and entertain myself, not to make myself angry!" （我这盆栽是拿来欣赏的，而不是拿来气自己的。”)

Quite true! I planted the cactus as a hobby and I shouldn't have ended it with anger or frustration. After this I have decided not to be angry and accept for what it is. Anyway, the young and lively cactus is still there in the pot!

There are quite some lessons to think about why I should get angry. After years I have come to the thought  that the cactus belongs to me, it is mine. The fact is it never belongs to anybody; It is just a plant and I can't stop it from changing or being changed ( damaged, death) And so often the shatter of the things we like put us into frustration and sadness; With a calm heart we can actually observe how deep is our obsession towards the things we like and how thing is constantly changing when the conditions change. When we don't understand this, we often suffer - not from the things but from our wrong perceptions and thoughts.