00:00There was once a stonecutter, who was dissatisfied with himself, and with his position in life.
00:08One day, he passed a wealthy merchant's house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine
00:13possessions, and important visitors. How powerful that merchant must be! thought the stonecutter.
00:19He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant. To his great surprise,
00:24he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power, than he had ever imagined,
00:30but envied and detested by those, less wealthy than himself. Soon a high official passed by,
00:35carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants, and escorted by soldiers beating gongs.
00:41Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. How powerful that official
00:46is! he thought. I wish that I could be a high official. Then he became the high official,
00:51carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around.
00:56It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair.
01:01He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. How powerful the
01:08sun is! he thought. I wish that I could be the sun. Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on
01:14everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers. But a huge black cloud moved between
01:20him, and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. How powerful that
01:25storm cloud is! he thought. I wish that I could be a cloud. Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields
01:32and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force,
01:37and realized that it was the wind. How powerful it is! he thought. I wish that I could be the wind.
01:44Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all
01:49below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully
01:55he blew against it, a huge, towering rock. How powerful that rock is! he thought. I wish that I
02:02could be a rock. Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he
02:08stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself
02:13being changed. What could be more powerful than I, the rock? he thought. He looked down and saw far
02:19below him the figure of a stonecutter. Moral. We all have great power within us. We just need to know that.
