REMEMBERING UNEXPECTED KINDNESS
"Many years ago, I walked on pilgrimage from Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha was enlightened, to Sarnath, where he gave his first teaching. I took a long route that kept me far from busy highways. As I walked through the remote countryside I felt a great exhilaration: surely this was how it must have felt to be a monk in the time of the Buddha!
But, unfortunately, the modern world was not so far away. I had a plane ticket in my bag and a deadline to keep. On the last part of the journey I walked along the railway line. One night, I met two railway workers out checking the track.
They said that it was dangerous to walk at night and insisted on accompanying me to the next station. There they invited me to spend the night with them in a concrete shed at the end of the platform. It was a bitterly cold night and I accepted. One of the men then disappeared. A few minutes later he came back into the shed with a shy smile on his face, carrying a large brick.
With great respect he offered me the brick, pointing at my head and saying, 'Pillow'. It was of the most heart-warming gifts that I have ever received. There is something so marvellous about such acts of kindness. I doubt whether any of my readers have ever been offered a brick pillow, but I'm sure everybody has at one time or another been treated with unexpected kindness.
Remembering such occasions and bringing them to mind can calm an agitated mind and give joy at a time of low spirits."
~ Ajahn Jayasāro
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