Wednesday Wisdom: The Tale of Two Arrows


Daily Buddhist [Wednesday Wisdom]

By Pema Sherpa & Brendan Barca

Age-old Buddhist wisdom for modern living. Weekly insight loved by over 17,000 practitioners. 🙏

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The Tale of Two Arrows

The Buddha once gave his disciples a powerful teaching which has become known as “The Tale of Two Arrows”.

It goes something like this...

A man is walking through the woods and suddenly gets struck by an arrow from a hunter.

He feels an immediate surge of pain in his arm and starts to bleed.

The hunter runs away in panic and the man is left all alone.

He then starts to worry:

“How will I get help?

Will I survive this? There’s so much blood.

If I die, will they even find my body?

What if I never get to see my family again?”

Can you recognize the second arrow in this story? No?

Well, the first arrow is the one shot by the hunter.

And the second arrow is the self-inflicted worries of the man.

The Buddha told his disciples that while the first arrow is inevitable (we all experience pain and suffering), the second arrow is conditional.

We create additional suffering through the stories we tell ourselves and the futures we imagine.

Self-compassion is the practice of putting down that second arrow. It doesn't undo what happened. But it does change how we relate to our suffering.

Today, notice whether you're carrying a second arrow. If you are, ask yourself: What would it look like to put it down?

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Pema & Brendan

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