Two Wolves, Two Stones

Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that
goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two
"wolves" inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed,
arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false
pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility,
kindness, benevolence,empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grand son thought about it for a minute and then asked his
grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Ajarn Donald Sandage sent me this picture with a story of two wolves from the American Indians Cherokee. It reminded me of a story of a Tibetan lama who wanted to get rid of negative feelings, one of the wolves in his heart. Whenever he had a negative thought or feeling, he would put a black stone on a pile. When he had a positive thought or feeling, he would add a white stone on another pile. In the beginning it's mainly black stone that wins. But gradually the white stone pile becomes taller and there's no longer a need to have the black stone pile any more.