Mindfulness Meditation (For Everyday Life)

those old folk tales, such as the one about the fox
who drinks most of an old woman's pail of milk which
she neglected to watch as she was gathering wood
for a fire. She cuts off his tail in a fit of anger. The fox
asks for his tail back, and the old woman says she
will sew his tail back on for him if he will give her back
her milk. So he goes to the cow in the field and asks
for some milk, and the cow says she will give the fox
some milk if the fox brings her some grass. So the fox
goes to the field and asks for some grass, and the
field says, "Bring me some water." So he goes to the
stream and asks for water and the stream says,
"Bring me a jug." This goes on until a miller, out of
kindness and sympathy, gives the fox some grain to
give the hen to get the egg to give to the peddler to
get the bead to give to the maiden to get the jug to
fetch the water ... and so the fox gets his tail back
and goes away happy. This has to happen in order
for that to happen. Nothing comes from nothing.
Everything has antecedents. Even the miller's
kindness came from somewhere.
Looking deeply into any process, we can see that the
same applies. No sunlight, no life. No water, no life.
No plants, no photosynthesis, no photosynthesis, no
oxygen for animals to breathe. No parents, no you.
No trucks, no food in the cities. No truck
manufacturers, no trucks. No steel workers, no steel