The jar of life

Post sayings or stories from Buddhist traditions which you find interesting, inspiring or useful. (Your own stories are welcome on DW, but in the Creative Writing or Personal Experience forums rather than here.)
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the seafarer
Posts: 69
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 2:03 pm

The jar of life

Post by the seafarer »

One day, an old professor of the School of Public Management in France, was invited to lecture on the topic of “Efficient Time Management” in front of a group of 15 executive managers representing the largest, most successful companies in America. The lecture was one in a series of 5 lectures conducted in one day, and the old professor was given 1 hr to lecture.

Standing in front of this group of elite managers, who were willing to write down every word that would come out of the famous professor’s mouth, the professor slowly met eyes with each manager, one by one, and finally said, “we are going to conduct an experiment”.

From under the table that stood between the professor and the listeners, the professor pulled out a big glass jar and gently placed it in front of him. Next, he pulled out from under the table a bag of stones, each the size of a tennis ball, and placed the stones one by one in the jar. He did so until there was no room to add another stone in the jar. Lifting his gaze to the managers, the professor asked, “Is the jar full?” The managers replied, “Yes”.

The professor paused for a moment, and replied, “Really?”

Once again, he reached under the table and pulled out a bag full of pebbles. Carefully, the professor poured the pebbles in and slightly rattled the jar, allowing the pebbles to slip through the larger stones, until they settled at the bottom. Again, the professor lifted his gaze to his audience and asked, “Is the jar full?”

At this point, the managers began to understand his intentions. One replied, “apparently not!”

“Correct”, replied the old professor, now pulling out a bag of sand from under the table. Cautiously, the professor poured the sand into the jar. The sand filled up the spaces between the stones and the pebbles.

Yet again, the professor asked, “Is the jar full?” Without hesitation, the entire group of students replied in unison, “NO!”

“Correct”, replied the professor. And as was expected by the students, the professor reached for the pitcher of water that was on the table, and poured water in the jar until it was absolutely full. The professor now lifted his gaze once again and asked, “What great truth can we surmise from this experiment?”

With his thoughts on the lecture topic, one manager quickly replied, “We learn that as full as our schedules may appear, if we only increase our effort, it is always possible to add more meetings and tasks.”

“No”, replied the professor. "The great truth that we can conclude from this experiment is: If we don’t put all the larger stones in the jar first, we will never be able to fit all of them later."

The auditorium fell silent, as every manager processed the significance of the professor’s words in their entirety.

The old professor continued, “What are the large stones in your life? Health? Family? Friends? Your goals? Doing what you love? Fighting for a Cause? Taking time for yourself?”

What we must remember is that it is most important to include the lager stones in our lives, because if we don’t do so, we are likely to miss out on life altogether. If we give priority to the smaller things in life (pebbles & sand), our lives will be filled up with less important things, leaving little or no time for the things in our lives that are most important to us. Because of this, never forget to ask yourself: What are the Large Stones in your Life? And once you identify them, be sure to put them first in your
Jar of Life.”

With a warm wave of his hand, the professor bid farewell to the managers, and slowly walked out of the room.
ཁོང་ཁྲོ་སློང་མཁན་མེད་ན། བཟོད་པ་སུ་ལ་སྒོམ།

When there is no one to provoke anger, how shall we practice patience?
the seafarer
Posts: 69
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 2:03 pm

Re: The jar of life

Post by the seafarer »

I was reminded of this old story after reading some posts here on the forums. Somebody pointed out that to some Buddhists Dharma means embracing a path of renunciation because of certain choices they make, while other Buddhists make different choices altogether, and that all got me thinking.

At the end of the day, I think each of us, Buddhist or else, has a figurative "jar of life" with big rocks, small rocks, pebbles and sand inside, and someone's big rocks, in life as in Dharma, could be somebody else's sand or pebbles and viceversa. That how each of us carves his or her path.

What are the big rocks in your life (or Dharma) and what are the pebbles is an interesting question. Maybe an even more interesting question would be: "who chose / why did you choose which things would be the big rocks in your life and which ones the pebbles and sand?"
ཁོང་ཁྲོ་སློང་མཁན་མེད་ན། བཟོད་པ་སུ་ལ་སྒོམ།

When there is no one to provoke anger, how shall we practice patience?
Malang
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2016 10:26 am

Re: The jar of life

Post by Malang »

This is a great story,thanks for sharing
antiquebuddhas
Posts: 138
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:10 pm
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Re: The jar of life

Post by antiquebuddhas »

Wow, that's quite amazing story.
Just makes the heart feel the true Large stones in our life.
This one story made my thoughts quite broader.
"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." Lord Buddha
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