Volume 69. November 25, 2025
Medieval German mystic Meister Eckhart long ago offered some good spiritual advice: “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”
He makes a valid point. Gratitude is essential for human happiness and spiritual well-being. The truly wise, however, go one step beyond gratitude.
Perhaps a story might illustrate.
One enchanted evening, in old China, a Buddhist priest witnessed a wondrous sight in a lonely graveyard.
He beheld a beautiful goddess praying before a pile of bones. She wore a jeweled crown upon her head and silk slippers on her feet. Her necklace and arm bangles tinkled softly with precious gems. Her body emitted a sweet flowerlike fragrance.
Auspicious clouds of pastel pink and purple floated above her head. The grove of trees surrounding her glowed with celestial light.
Taken aback, the priest approached the radiant being. He said,
“Oh holy one, I feel highly favored to gaze upon thy sublime form. But why have you chosen to appear in this hideous boneyard? Why do you bow in homage before this pile of stinking bones, which are more wretched and worthless than wood chips?”
The goddess replied, “Come closer and I will answer you.”
The priest drew beside her and she told her tale.
“I was born into a poor family — the poorest of the poor. There wasn’t even a roof over our heads let alone rice to fill our starving bellies. Yet, undaunted by destitution, I practiced good acts. Because of my meritorious deeds, I attained a fortunate rebirth as a goddess in heaven after I died. But when I walked the earth as a human being, this pile of bones was my body. Every autumn I come here in thanksgiving to express my gratitude for it.”
Suddenly, she vanished into the clouds and mist, leaving behind only the plaintive cries of the autumn insects.
Later that evening, the priest contemplated the vision. He felt ashamed that he was remiss in his duty to inform her that even a goddess in heaven will eventually decay and die.
Under the moon, he meditated. Emerging from the Great Silence, he brushed with ink the following verse:
Instead of thanking her old bones,
Why doesn’t she grasp the mind that thanks them?
How priceless is the mind that does the thanking.
That mind is the mind of all the Buddhas.
In Buddhism, heaven is not the goal. The goal is nirvana.
Good deeds get you to heaven. Meditation brings you nirvana.
The mind-source deep within you is a precious thing. Be ye god or demon, it can ferry you across heaven, hell or any state of being.
Of course, if the practice of meditation is beyond one’s capability, then pause and sincerely say “thank you.” That will suffice.
The Buddha Times 