Chase after this, Chase after that,
Ultimately all in vain

A taxi driver placed a bag of rubbish on the back seat of his car, but he forgot to throw it away.

Later, a lady passenger got into the taxi. As soon as she sat down, she discovered the bag and thought: ‘The previous passenger must have left this behind.’ She readily touched the bag: it was full. She availed herself an opportunity of secretly stuffing the bag into her own rucksack, whilst the driver concentrated on driving. Imagine how she would feel when she discovered the bag was actually full of rubbish!

In life, we often readily take things which we consider very precious. In fact, those are just rubbish.

In northern China, people use donkeys to operate millstones. To make it work harder, the donkey’s eyes are firstly covered by a mask so that it cannot see, and then peanut butter is rubbed onto its noses. When the donkey sense the aroma, it is fooled to think that there must be something delicious to eat in front and will be desperate to dash forward.

In fact, we also often chase after this, and chase after that, yet ultimately it ends up in a busy and empty field. How are we different from donkeys?

Postscript: Abstain from Greed.