Vihara Girinaga & Buddhajayanti™

Fail and Fight Again

One fine afternoon, there was a young man in a park. We could clearly see sadness, disappointment, and frustration on his face. He walked slowly with his head down. Occasionally, he would sit down and sigh many times, as if he did not know what to do.

When his mind was somewhere in the clouds, suddenly his eyes caught a movement in the branches nearby. A spider was making its web there. Being very upset, this idle man took a twig. He destroyed the spider web without mercy to let out his frustrated feelings.

Afterwards, he focused his attention to see what the spider would do. Deep in his heart, he wanted to know the spider would do. Would the spider run hurriedly away or would it make a new web somewhere else? His curiosity soon got the answer. Soon the spider returned to its previous place, starting to repeat the same activities: crawling, spinning, and jumping. It spun every single thread from the very beginning. Each time, the web got wider and wider. The spider worked tirelessly until a new web came into being.

The young man watched the spider working vigorously repairing and making its new tab. Then again, he destroyed this second web. Feeling satisfied but full of curiosity, he sat and watched the spider’s reaction. What would it do after its web was destroyed for the second time?

For the third time, the spider repeated its activities from the very beginning – vigorously it crawled, spun, and jumpe. With every single thread produced from its body, the spider spun a new web bit by bit.

The young man watched and observed the spider building its third web. But suddenly a thought struck him! No matter how many times he had destroyed and ruined the web, the spider would build it again. The spirit of this very small creature working tirelessly opened his mind.

It brought a felling of embarrassment to his heart. There he was in park – feeling depressed and restless after just one failure. So, having seen what the spider did, he promised himself, “it is not proper for me to complain and feel desperate just because I have failed this time. I must stand up again. I must strive and be ready to overcome any failure I face, like this tiny spirited spider which build up its new web every time the web was destroyed.” The young man immediately stood up, and made a resolution to work harder. If necessary, he would start again from the very beginning. Never give up!

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