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Taoist parable
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"...an old Chinese farmer lost his best stallion one day and his neighbor came around to express his regrets, but the farmer just said, "Who knows what is good and what is bad." The next day the stallion returned bringing with him 3 wild mares. The neighbor rushed back to celebrate with the farmer, but the old farmer simply said, "Who knows what is good and what is bad." The following day, the farmer's son fell from one of the wild mares while trying to break her in and broke his arm and injured his leg. The neighbor came by to check on the son and give his condolences, but the old farmer just said, "Who knows what is good and what is bad." The next day the army came to the farm to conscript the farmer's son for the war, but found him invalid and left him with his father. The neighbor thought to himself, "Who knows what is good and what is bad."
Taoist parable
4 comments
Can you tell me, in laymen's terms, what exactly this parable means. Is it as simple as saying whatever happens we don't know if it is good or bad? Example: If a man pays for his child's college education and the neighbor says the child is so lucky. Do you say "maybe or maybe not." Would the child be better off working for his education to instill character and hard work? I am confused. 
In Taoist philosophy Good and Bad are inseparable; two sides of the whole; opposites flow into one another; tragedy and comedy are the same root.from another site:
"According to Taoism, the true significance of events can never be understood as they are occurring, for in every event there are elements of both good and bad. Furthermore, each event has no specific beginning or end and may influence future events for years or even centuries to come. An excellent example of the Taoist view of life is found in the following parable of the Taoist farmer."
I look at the parable as another version of "one door closes and another opens". We should not judge an event or crisis as good or bad because of what it may lead to. Each event has it's place in the time line of our lives and, as humans, we have a tendency to think these events as occurring in a vacuum. The "bad" event is followed by a "good" event which is followed by another "bad" event ... The farmer in the story understands simply that the events occurred and that they have consequences that are unknown and, therefore, should not be judged outside of the context of his entire life.Your question about paying for your child's college could be looked at this way... you paid for your child's college but he/she dropped out. Then he went to work and found a career that he loved. Then he could go no further because he didn't have a degree. Then he went to school on his own. Then he found he didn't want to continue in that field. Etcetera and so on. Don't put too much weight on the decisions you make because each one will lead to opportunities that are not foreseeable when you make them.
Alan Watts told this story and concluded that .. "We think we know in what direction progress lies." In reality we do not. Life's events are simply that, events. Neither good or bad except as we label them.
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