The Agreement with a King Cobra

I met a monk in Thailand who lived and meditated in a cave for about four years. This is actually humanly possible! His mediation cave just so happened to be inhabited by a king cobra. The monk obviously feared for his life, so he made pact with the cobra. The agreement was simply, “I won’t hurt you and please don’t hurt me. Let’s live together peacefully.” Fortunately, there was no harm done during the four years that the monk meditated in the cave.

This is a beautiful metaphor of how we can co-exist in a potentially hostile environment through an agreement based on non-harm. The lesson is to set a foundation of mutual respect to achieve peace. The agreement between the monk and the cobra boiled down to this: I acknowledge your presence and power you acknowledge my presence and power. If we break this agreement, it could be catastrophic you, me, or for the both of us. If we keep this agreement, then we can make a miracle.

Go out a make a miracle!

Much love,

Michael Fong