Last night, during my meditation class, the teacher told a wonderful little allegory that went a little somethin' like this (my personal spin, of course):

The villagers of a small town were losing their heads with worry. An infamous samurai, known for his deadly ways was rolling into town for a blood-bath. This warrior killed for the thrill of killing. He was the big-bad wolf of his day who huffed and puffed and sliced his way through people. Villagers were packing up and abandoning their homes with great haste. Like I said, they were losing their heads with worry, but getting be-headed was the last thing on their agenda. So, by the time the vicious samurai arrived, he found a ghost-town, with no inhabitants except for one sole monk, deep in prayer, in the sole temple that remained.

The crazy samurai was shocked! He approached the monk, sword in hand, and roared, "what are you doing here?! Don't you know who I am? Aren't you afraid? With this steel, I could tear your body in two."

The quiet monk replied, "Yes, I'm aware of who you are and yes, since I am made of flesh and your sword is made of steel, if you so chose, you could slice my body in half."

Amused by the subtle boldness of this humble monk, the samurai posed a challenge: Teach me of heaven and of hell, right now, this very minute, and if you are successful, I will spare your life.

The monk answered, "you're too much of a savage to understand such a refined concept. Ha! I'd have a better chance with a dog. Me teach you??!! Get outa here, you've got to be kidding!"

The flabbergasted samurai was besides himself with rage, he was fuming, seeing red, red, everywhere, his sword was seeing red, he couldn't believe what he just heard and for sure, that poor monk was a good as dead.

Suddenly, the monk tapped him on the nose and said, "this is hell." With a quirky little smile he watched the samaurai "get it" before falling to his knees in tears. "Thank you," cried the warrior, "you risked your life to teach me a very valuable lesson."

With that, the monk tapped him on the nose again and whispered, "this is heaven!"

This simple little story was told to help the meditation group that I was a part of gain a better understanding of "metta" meditation. Metta is the Buddhist practice of "LovingKindness," where blessings of peace are extended to ourselves, to those we have challenging relationships with, to total strangers, friends, and lastly, the world at large.

Practicing Metta cultivates a deeper feeling of compassion and understanding for all beings, who are just like us, searching for happiness, and hopefully learning from their mistakes like that grateful warrior did, as they go through life.

This story taught me that even mean warriors need love too!