The Stonecutter’s pickaxe hit the stone. He felt the strike in his hands and feet. His mind was in his hands and feet. Every day the Stonecutter worked hard, splitting stone from the foot of the mountain. Workers come to carry away the raw slabs of stone the Stonecutter cut, to be worked some more into so many things. Every day the Stonecutter would get money and merit from his work, which he brought home to share with his wife and children every evening.

As he got older, he felt the striking of the stone in his arms and legs, in his torso and shoulders. When his work was felt in his head, he was an old Stonecutter. His life was hard, but he worked well, many people benefited from the stone he took from the mountain. As he died, he felt his work and merit, his feeling and awareness of striking of the stone, rise towards heaven.

A wild spirit saw the Stonecutter’s mind rising and spoke: “you are bound for heaven, and what sort of heaven would you like?” The Stonecutter was a simple man, he had seen merchants pass by the road near his house. The merchant had a carriage, soft cushions to sit on, good food and servants, even a guard to protect him. The life of the merchant looked like heaven, so the stonecutter said: “I would ask to enter heaven as a wealthy merchant a carriage and cushions, good food and servants.” So the wild spirit put magic on the Stonecutter’s mind, making him dream of being a wealthy merchant.

The dream of the Stonecutter was indeed pleasant. He ate the good food as servants did work so he was at ease, enjoying the soft cushions and shade of his carriage and house. He looked past the silk curtain of his carriage and saw rough people working hard to till fields and carry heavy loads of goods to the capital city. He looked at his guard and began to feel afraid. When the carriage arrived at the capital for trade, he saw a princess’s carriage. She had all the things the Stonecutter had, but all things were finer, whats more, she had many guards, and their superior armor and weapons shone in the sun. Then his head turned a little and he saw the strong stone towers of the castle the princess must be using as her house. The Stonecutter had a pang of regret for asking to be a rich merchant as his heavenly reward for a long virtuous life of hard work,

and just then the wild spirit appeared. The Stonecutter said, “I think I made a mistake, do you think you could make me a King instead?”

The wild spirit said “I would not like you to be unhappy in heaven, let it be so!”

Suddenly the Stonecutter found himself sitting on a golden throne in a strong stone castle. The servants were everywhere anticipating his desires and the army of guards made him enjoy the much finer food without fear of the rough people outside. This went on splendidly until during court many people, even rough ones came kneeling before him to complain of a drought brought on by long hot and dry days with no rain. The Stonecutter was king and began feeling uncomfortable for all the responsibility he had, as the bad feeling spread when some people died of the drought and crops were scorched. The people expressed their fears of not having enough food and it made the Stonecutter afraid too, for as king they would blame him. After court the Stonecutter began regretting his choice to become king. The comforts were good but he had not the power he needed to take care of all his subjects.

And the wild spirit appeared before him. “Well?” said the wild spirit “Are you enjoying heaven?” The stonecutter told the wild spirit of his discomfort and fears for his subjects. “Your life was good, you can have another chance to decide how you would like to enjoy heaven.” said the wild spirit. The stonecutter thought carefully “I would like to be the Sun. I can restrain myself then and allow the people their crops and stop this drought. Also, It must feel good to be the Sun and have all that energy and light to give.” The wild spirit gave a crooked smile, waved his ethereal, willowy hand and the Stonecutter became the Sun!

Now the Stonecutter felt really warm and good. He smiled down on the earth and glowed his energy and light just enough that the crops of his kingdom and the world were healthy. This made him very happy, and he began thinking that this is really what heaven should be like. After a while, as he watched the earth, he saw great rain clouds gathering and swirling over large parts of the earth. These rain clouds poured rain to the sound of thunder and ravaged the crops, flooded homes and drowned livestock.

As the Stonecutter watched, he became angry, and an angry Sun is not what anyone wants. His heat flared up and some clouds burned away, crops were dried and a drought began. The stonecutter realized what he was doing and tried to calm down. It was really a great responsibility to be the Sun, and it took a control that the Stonecutter only knew with his stonecutting.

The wild spirit appeared before the Stonecutter, who was already thinking what he should do.

“I will become one of those great rainclouds that even as the Sun I cannot dismiss with my heat.”

The wild spirit nodded, trying to hide his gleeful chuckling, and waved his frail hand again.

Now the Stonecutter was a great raincloud, and the feeling of being one was very different- he felt his emotions become even harder to control. As he desired, the wind bent the trees and lashed out against the the land. He poured his emotions down on the earth, but the Stonecutter tried to gain control. He thought about the discipline and precision he needed to cut stone, steadily saving his energy to make progress all day. He managed to calm down some and his rain subsided, his wind lessened. But he had already angered the Sun and provoked a heat wave. The Stonecutter as a giant raincloud tried to puff himself up and protect the world against the heat. He could only do so much and found that the emotions of the cosmos was too much for him, and he looked down on the earth for some stability. He saw the Great Mountain, standing imperturbable by all the heat and rain and wind, rising so high, its slopes unmoved, it supported whole forests and towns of people. Before another wave of emotion could overwhelm the Stonecutter he called out to the wild spirit “I want to be the Great Mountain!”

The wild spirit appeared and with a handwave the Stonecutter was the Great Mountain. The Stonecutter felt his strength and stability and knew that he was doing something important for people and beasts and forests, as the changeable weather went through their moods. He felt his stability stretching out into the future, on and on, and he knew he could provide his endurance until the end of days. Then he felt a little sting that came again and again until he was slightly annoyed. He looked to his foot and saw a little stonecutter, and each strike of his pickaxe brought the little sting. He knew the focus of this stonecutter to cut the right sized slabs of the Great Mountain’s body, and a stonecutter’s will to go on to the end of his life, where his son would take over and the sting would never end as long as the Mountain was peopled. Now the Great mountain, weighed his long endurance against the tiny sting of a falling pickaxe again and again, and the Great Mountain realized this mild annoyance, over the centuries, would grow and not stop. The quiet mind of the Mountain gained a measure of respect for the little stonecutter, even though he was so small, and his work was relatively insignificant over his lifetime. He looked at his own experience as the Stonecutter, before he was the Great Mountain, and admired the qualities of a man who could do such tiring work every day, cherishing his wife and children and leading a good and fair life, though the life was a rough one. The Great Mountain sat there as his moments grew longer and longer, all the while there was the reminder of a stonecutter to keep his mind from gaining true quietude. Finally, as his awareness was placed solidly and firmly on a storm raging on his southern face, and a stonecutter stinging him on his eastern face, The Great Mountain rumbled a sigh. The wild spirit appeared before him, but this time there were no tricks or cunning in his eyes. For the wild spirit knew this teaching, older than the world, that was dawning on the Great Mountain now. The Great Mountain spoke: “My idea of heaven has changed again, I wish to be a stonecutter.” There was no giggling this time from the wild spirit, who only nodded knowingly and waved his ghostly hand again.

The Stonecutter that was once the Great Mountain, a Giant Raincloud, and the Sun itself became a stonecutter. And with a heart full of wisdom, the Stonecutter began a day of work. Kissing his wife and children goodbye, he shouldered his pickaxe and trudged steadily to his work site. He felt the strike of his pickaxe reverberate through his body, but the Stonecutter’s mind was unmoved. He knew now that heaven had been here all the time, and he needed only wisdom to find heaven where he stood, where he had always stood, as a stonecutter.

With that, his mind became even lighter, the dreams brought on by the wild spirit disappeared. The Stonecutter rose to the highest heaven, where the pleasures and bliss are no greater than the pleasures and bliss the Stonecutter found as a stonecutter, when virtue and wisdom come together to comprehend one’s place in the world.