Zen Stories - Horse and it's Rider

This is a favourite story of mine, and I would like to share it with you. This is the story which got me exploring buddhism, in the midst of covid lockdown last year. I have read the same story in one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s books, and in the Secular Buddhism podcast. This is how it goes.

The Story:

A person is standing along a road when he notices something moving extremely fast in the distance, with dust clouds swarming around it. He squints his eyes and could make out a fast moving horse, coming in his direction. A few moments later, he could visualize the man riding the horse. The man seems well dressed and looked eminent.

“He must be doing something vital, something very crucial,” the bystander reasoned, “since he is travelling at such a high speed.”

Shortly, the horse and its rider were close to the bystander. And once they were close by, the bystander shouted “Where are you going?"

The rider replied “I don’t know! Ask the horse”

The Zen meaning behind the story:

Short, and powerful story. Isn’t it?

The Zen meaning behind this parable is that,

Our habits are represented by the horse. Our habits drive us, much like the rider who gets dragged somewhere by the horse, over which he appears to have no control. These habits, created as a result of external influences such as the news, the media, social media, and peer pressure, push us cruelly and persistently, and we have little or no control over them, so we just keep running.

If only we could stop and ask,

Where are we running?

Why are we running?

We can identify the grip our habits have us on, and can start thinking about ways to regain control of ourselves.

My interpretation of the story:

I first encountered this story, during the early days of the pandemic. And like many health professionals, I was facing an ethical dilemma at that time. Time when a lot was not known about the disease, and no treatment or vaccines were available. The dilemma was, whether to stay safe behind closed doors to protect those I care about, or to go out and honour the Hippocrates' oath.

At that time my mind was galloping around, imagining countless probabilities. Most of them were negative, and was I getting worked up. My mind was the horse, and I was being driven relentlessly by it, with no end to my misery in sight.

The moment I heard this story, it was as if a candle was lit in a dark room.

I realized what was driving me, I could ask my mind to slow down, take it a day at a time, avoid pondering over the horizon, and approximately twenty months later, I live to blog about it.

When you’re at a crossroads, remembering this narrative can help you reinforce “why you’re doing whatever you’re doing,” and will either give you the strength to push forward or the clarity to turn back.