The story of the scorpion and the holy man with an alternative ending

 Whoever sees his nature is a Buddha.

Bodhidharma

You have probably heard the story of the scorpion and the holy man in which a passerby watches that strange encounter where a holy man keeps rescuing a scorpion from drowning and the scorpion keeps stinging him and falls back into the water as the holy man instinctively drops him as he is stung. When the passerby asks in bewilderment what is going on the holy man shrugs his shoulders and says, “it’s the nature of scorpions to sting and it’s the nature of a holy man to save creatures in distress.”

In the alternative ending of the story the holy man sees the bewilderment written on the passerby’s face and he suddenly understands that he wore that title “holy man” like a garment. Joyfully he drops it and faces life again and the scorpion drowns. The end!

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