Finding Perfect Peace

Once upon a time, a king in a far-off land be­came preoccupied with the concept of peace. He wanted a painting of perfect peace to hang in his throne room to inspire him. He invited artists throughout the kingdom to submit their renditions.

He received many paintings, studied them all, and rejected all but two. One was a beautiful painting of a quiet lake in front of a majestic mountain on a sunny day. As the king looked at it, he felt a rush of calmness well up within him. It made him smile. It was beauti­ful. Everyone in the court agreed that this was indeed a picture of perfect peace.

The second painting was not so beautiful. It also had a majestic mountain, but the day was not sunny. The skies were dark and foreboding. A waterfall spilled down the jagged rocky slopes of the mountain. Look­ing at this painting was troubling to the king. He wondered why he was even considering it. It wasn’t about peace at all. Yet, it intrigued him for some rea­son. Everyone in the court made rude comments under their breaths. They thought the artist was crazy.

The king looked closely at the painting. Then he noticed something. Behind the waterfall, the artist had painted a tiny bird sitting in a tiny nest in a scrawny bush growing out of a cleft in the granite. The angry waters rushed by, but the bird sat, unruffled … in peace. The king felt an even greater sense of warmth and centeredness in his body.

He turned to his aides and noblemen who were watching him closely. “I choose the second painting as the most realistic portrayal of peace,” he said. There was a murmur throughout the court. The king ex­plained:

It’s easy to be at peace when life is good and the road is smooth. But when we are able to be at peace in the midst of turmoil, when we can remain calm when there is noise and strife and conflict, ah, my friends, that is the real meaning of peace.”