I once read a story ... - Dhamma by Ajahn Jayasāro
I once read a story in which two friends, anxious to get rich, heard about an island populated by people with just one eye set in the middle of their foreheads. They decided to sail to the island, kidnap a one-eyed person and sell him to the zoo in their local city. On arriving at the island, however, they were spotted by a group of young one-eyed men, captured by them, and sold to the island zoo.
How often does it happen that at precisely the time when we believe ourselves to be most smart, we are in fact most foolish? The results of greed and selfishness are rarely as neat and immediate as in this story, but sooner or later they do manifest. Recognising this truth from examining our own experience and that of those around us leads to restraint and wisdom.
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