[Buddha-l] A Sufi story --from our Sufi bretheren

[JKirkpatrick]

An emperor was coming out of his palace for his morning walk when
he met a beggar. He asked the beggar, "What do you want?"
	
The beggar laughed and said, "You are asking as if you can
fulfill my desire!" 

The king was offended. He said, "Of course I can fulfill your
desire. What is it? Just tell me." 

And the beggar said, "Think twice before you promise anything."
	
The beggar was no ordinary beggar, he was the emperor's past-life
Master. And he had promised in that life, "I will come and try to
wake you in your next life. This life you have missed, but I will
come again." 

But the king had forgotten completely-who remembers past lives?
So he insisted, "I will fulfill anything you ask. I am a very
powerful emperor; what can you possibly desire that I cannot give
to you?" 

The beggar said, "It is a very simple desire. You see this
begging bowl? Can you fill it with something?" 

The emperor said, "Of course!" He called one of his viziers and
told him,"Fill this man's begging bowl with money." 

The vizier went and got some money and poured it into the bowl .
. . and it disappeared. And he poured more and more, and the
moment he would pour it, it would disappear. And the begging bowl
remained always empty. The whole palace gathered. 
By and by the rumor went throughout the capital, and a huge crowd
gathered. The prestige of the emperor was at stake.. 

He said to his viziers, "If the whole kingdom is lost I am ready
to lose it, but I cannot be defeated by this beggar." Diamonds
and pearls and emeralds . . . his treasuries were becoming empty.
That begging bowl seemed to be bottomless. 

Everything that was put into it-everything!-immediately
disappeared, went out of existence. 

Finally it was evening, and people were standing there in utter
silence. The king dropped at the feet of the beggar and admitted
his defeat. He said, "Just tell me one thing. You are
victorious-but before you leave, just fulfill my curiosity. What
is this begging bowl made of?" 

The beggar laughed and said, "It is made of the human mind. There
is no secret...it is simply made of human desire."