The Importance of Hope - A Buddhist Healing Story

Many centuries back, a severe famine swept through a valley in Tibet. A father saw that he and his children would not live much longer since all their food was gone. And so he filled some bags with ashes, tied them with ropes from the ceiling, and told his little children, "We have lots of roasted barley flour in those bags, but we have to save it for the future."

The father died of hunger, but the children survived until some people came to rescue them. Although they were weaker than their father, they lived because of their belief that they had food. Their father died because he had lost hope.

Hope gives powerful strength to mind and body. However, the truth as it relates to our lives is even more inspiring than the particulars of the story. Unlike the bags of barley flour, the purity of our inmost nature is not just a fiction aimed at building up confidence; it is based on the utmost truth.

When we truly grasp the perfection of our inmost natures, the door opens to positive life-change.

Adapted from The Healing Power of Mind, by Tulku Thondup (Shambhala, 1996).