The Long Thread - Ancient Stories For The Present Moment.

A five year old boy was turned away from his father's lap. He walked into the forest alone. He sat beneath a tree. And did not move for months. This story from Hindu Mythology explains why the North Star never moves while everything else wheels around it.

A man is lying in his bath. His wife is telling him about her brother, who has been thinking about renouncing the world for years. Waiting for the right moment. Waiting for his affairs to be in order. Waiting for the stars to align. Something happens inside the man in the bath. He stands up. He doesn't dry himself. He doesn't dress himself. He walks out of his house and keeps walking. This story i...

Mulla Nasruddin was walking through the desert when he found a skull. He spoke to it. It spoke back. He ran straight to the king's palace to report the miracle. The skull never said another word. This seven-hundred-year-old Sufi story is very funny. Until it isn't.

Four friends lived in a forest. On a sacred day, a hungry traveller arrived. The otter brought fish. The jackal brought a lizard and milk. The monkey brought mangoes. The rabbit looked at what he had. Only grass. Something a man could not eat. And so he asked the traveller to build a fire. This is why the moon looks the way it does.

A demon king declared himself God. He had one son - a boy named Prahlada. The boy refused to stop singing. His father threw him off a cliff. Set him on fire. Had him trampled by elephants. Each time, the boy emerged unharmed. Still singing. This story from the Hindu tradition is three thousand years old. It asks one of the most searching questions I know.

A fearsome samurai warrior visits a Zen master. He has one question that has troubled him for years. Do heaven and hell actually exist? The master's answer takes less than ten seconds. And it has nothing to do with what happens after we die.

A story from the Katha Upanishad about the courage to seek truth. A young boy's father, in a moment of anger, sends him to Death. The boy goes. He sits at Death's door for three days without food or water. Waiting. When Death returns and offers him anything - wealth, kingdoms, pleasures beyond imagination - the boy refuses every single one. He wants only one thing. The truth about what happens aft...

A king of eighty thousand monkeys discovers soldiers surrounding his troop's only home. The river is too wide. The army is on every side. There is no way out. Except one. What the Monkey King does next, with nothing but a bamboo reed and his own body, is one of the most moving acts of leadership ever recorded. From the ancient Jataka Tales - stories of the Buddha's past lives.

A farmer's horse runs away. His neighbors say - what terrible luck. The farmer says - maybe. Who knows? The horse returns with three wild horses. His neighbors say - what wonderful luck. The farmer says - maybe. Who knows? His son breaks his leg trying to tame one. The army comes and takes every able-bodied young man to war. The farmer says - maybe. Who knows? A two-thousand-year-old story that ma...

A great Tibetan saint returns to his cave after gathering firewood. His cave is full of demons. He tries everything to drive them out. They don't move. What he does next is one of the most radical and counterintuitive acts in all of Buddhist literature. And it will make you rethink everything you have been fighting.

A young mother has just lost her only child. She carries his body through the streets, knocking on every door, begging for medicine that will bring him back. Someone sends her to the Buddha. He asks her for one thing. Something very small. Something that should be easy to find. It isn't. What she discovers instead will change everything. A story from the Buddhist tradition that has offered com...

A great mystic is on his way to see God. He passes two seekers in the forest. Both devoted. Both searching. Both asking the same question - how much longer? One has been waiting three lives. One has never waited at all. Their answers, when they come, will surprise you. An ancient story from the Hindu tradition about trust, surrender and the most joyful response to an impossible situation ever reco...

Six blind scholars. One elephant. Six completely different answers. Every single one of them was right. Not one of them was describing an elephant. An ancient story told across Hindu, Buddhist and Sufi traditions for thousands of years - because it describes something every human being does every single day. Perhaps the most important five minutes of your day.

A brilliant scholar travels far to study with a Zen master. He knows everything. He has read every book. Debated every mind. The master says nothing. He simply pours tea. And keeps pouring. A thousand-year-old story that may be the most uncomfortable thing you hear today, in the best possible way.

Two brothers. One race. Circle the entire worldand return first. Kartikeya leapt onto his peacock and disappeared into the sky. Ganesha looked at his mouse. Then looked at hisparents. And smiled. One of the most beloved stories in Hindu mythology -and perhaps the most important ten minutes of your day.

A monk is running from a tiger. He falls off a cliff. He grabs a vine. Below him, another tiger waits. And then he notices something growing from the rock face. Within reach. Red. Perfect. One of the most beloved stories in the Zen tradition - and perhaps the most important five minutes of your day.