Short story: When is vanity, vanity, and when is it just life?
@innertalks (22130)
Australia
October 25, 2024 7:04pm CST
The old Zen master, Rafu Kerploski, was standing at his mirror, combing his hair.
A student said to him,
"What is the price of such vanity?"
The old master smiled, and replied, to his student.
"The price that you want to pay, is not its price."
"Well, what is its price then?"
continued the persistent student.
The master walked up to the student, and whispered in his ear.
"The price is only the price when you have set it to be so. Life comes without price, but is prized, just the same."
The master turned to walk away, and then he looked back over his shoulder towards his student, and winked, as he said.
"If you think that you are not vain, you have already paid its price."
"Life is not priced until you price it, and when you do price life, you then value it enough to not price it, but to simply live it."
"Vanity can be real, or a depiction. I comb my hair. You call it vanity. It is your depiction, not mine."
The student, nodded his head, and walked onwards the other way, a valuable lesson learned.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
Vanity is not vanity if it is not vanity, but live living itself through you.
If you are living life through you, though, that is vanity.
You have stopped living life, by being you vainly.
3 people like this
2 responses
@crossbones27 (49784)
• Mojave, California
26 Oct
I work for penny's on the dollar. That makes me less vain. I cannot help what what my ancestors left me. 
I get what you saying but its hard to not be vain if trying to afford to eat in this world.
I get what you saying but its hard to not be vain if trying to afford to eat in this world.3 people like this
@innertalks (22130)
• Australia
26 Oct
Yes, as my old boss used to say, proudly, and vainly:
"I thought that I made a mistake once, but I was wrong."
Sometimes, we need to stand firm in who we are, to not be eaten by others, in this world too.
We need to be proud to be ourselves, while trying not to be too overvain about it too.
@innertalks (22130)
• Australia
27 Oct
We can be ourselves, as long as we are being our soul-self, as if we act from our ego self, mistakenly thinking that that part of us is our real self, we live a vain life, as well as one lived in vain too.
@innertalks (22130)
• Australia
27 Oct
@Shiva49 And yet, we must become aware of what is hiding deep under our own shadow self too.
We need to work on, and with, this karmic load, to try to remove it enough for it not to influence us from behind the scenes, as we strive to live from the light instead.
God has created shadows for a reason, I guess, and they, shadows, can also be put to a good cause too.
@Shiva49 (26796)
• Singapore
27 Oct
@innertalks When soul consciousness pervades our thinking and action, we are well-positioned to lead a life of virtue.
Real fulfillment happens when we lead a selfless life and a selfish life will even make us fear our own shadows.
2 people like this
