[Buddha-l] People love a good story

[Michael LaTorra]

I have no specific knowledge about the truth value (or evidentiary foundation) 
of the story about Hakuin and the village girl. I can assert with confidence, 
however, that people love a good story.

What makes a story good in the sense I am using the term "good"?

A good story features heroes and villains, conflict, injustice inflicted and 
justice finally triumphant.

These features make a story good because they give the audience what it wants. 
However, these features do not have any necessary connection with facts. If 
the story just happens to be both good and true (factual) that is certainly a 
bonus. All too often, however, a true story is not entirely good (in the sense 
already defined) so over repeated tellings, the true story is modified -- 
falsified -- to one degree or another in order to make it conform to the 
criteria of goodness that audiences crave.

Urbans legends, ancient myths, and our own personal perferred myths about 
ourselves are all "good stories" in this sense.

Good stories can serve a noble purpose when they inspire people toward 
behaving in a moral fashion. But good stories are not the same as "seeing 
things as they really are." Indeed, people who consistently prefer to live 
with stories while ignoring facts doom themselves to experiencing personal 
stories that are often far from good.

Regards,

Michael LaTorra

mlatorra at nmsu.edu

Department of English
New Mexico State University
MSC 3E
PO Box 30001
Las Cruces, NM 88003