the differences are the same: December 2005

Oh well...

Once upon a time, there lived in Japan a feudal warlord. He had an only daughter. The general would do anything the princess asked.

Well, the general would make the servants do anything the princess asked.

One day, it poured down outside. When the rain stopped, bubbles formed on the pond in the garden. "Wow," the princess gasped when she saw the colourful bubbles, "they're so beautiful!" She begged the general to string some of the bubbles into a necklace for her.

So the general summoned his gardeners, and ordered them to do the job. The men peered at the bubbles and then at each other, slowly shaking their heads. "Dear Master," they ventured, "this is impossible. Bubbles burst upon touch. How are we supposed to work with them?"

"If none of you could carry out my order," the general threatened, "you will not be leaving yourselves much choice besides hara-kiri."

In the unsettling silence, the court's sideshow fool came forth. "Piece of cake, my master," he volunteered, "I'll do it."

"Good, good," encouraged the warlord. "If you really could come up with the necklace for my beloved princess, I will spare these men's lives."

"Your Highness," the fool respectfully approached the princess and asked, "such pretty bubbles in the pond: big ones, small ones, shiny ones, colourful ones. They are so lovely. Sadly, the fool is too stupid to know which ones tickle the Princess's fancy. Would Your Highness pick out those you like? The fool will make the necklace right away."

The princess went to the edge of the pond to choose the bubbles. As you might expect, each one that she touched burst at once.

"What could be the delay, Your Highness?" the fool humbly inquired. "The Princess does not want the bubbles anymore?"

"Yes, yes," answered the princess. "I have changed my mind. My Highness rather prefers a hoop of pretty flowers now."

The general watched how the situation unfolded, and laughed heartily. "Your necks," he growled at the gardeners, "are spared. Now get your silly peasant asses out of my sight!" The folks followed the command immediately with a brisk jog.

Making the flower-hoop for the princess, the sideshow fool turned around and looked at the warlord with a puzzled smile.

"My dear master, would you like some bubbles?"

The "official" moral of the Japanese fable:
Like the iridescent bubbles, which come from rain-water hitting pond-water, people and events are simply impersonal products of causes and conditions. As attractive or ugly as they seem, they have no intrinsic, independent existence. Due to their nature of flux, when you become attached to people, they change; when you cling to things, they disappear. More peace of mind is attained by expecting less from them than forcing life to always unfold your way. As the Buddha advises in the Arya Vajra Cchedaka Prajña Paramita Nama Mahayana Sutra:

All conditioned phenomena
are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows,
dew and also lightning.
Thus should they be contemplated.