Ramblings: Story of Two Brothers and Two Rings

This too shall pass

This story was told during my Vipassana Meditation course:


A rich old man died leaving two sons. All the property of their father was divided between the two sons, half and half. 

After all the matters were settled the sons came upon a small packet that contained the personal effects of their father. Inside the packet they found two rings. One was an expensive diamond ring and the other was a cheap silver ring. 

On seeing the diamond ring, the elder brother developed greed and wanted the ring for himself. He said to the younger brother, “It seems that the diamond ring is not the earning of our father but is a family heirloom of our forefathers. That is why it has been kept separately from his other property. Being the elder brother, I will take the diamond ring. You had better take the silver one.” The younger brother smiled and agreed. 

 The two brothers separated and went their different ways. The younger brother looked at the silver ring and thought, “I can understand any father wanting to pass on the diamond ring to his children but why did he preserve this cheap silver ring so carefully?” He took out the silver ring from his finger and examined it. He found some words engraved on it “This too shall pass.” The younger brother thought, “Oh, this was the mantra of my father; this too shall pass.” He replaced the ring back on his finger. 

Time passed. Both the brothers lived their lives.

When spring came the elder brother became highly elated, losing the balance of his mind. When winter came he went into a deep depression, again losing his mental balance. He became tense, developing hypertension. Unable to sleep at night he started using sleeping pills and tranquilizers and stronger drugs. Finally he reached the stage when he required electric shock treatment. This was the brother with the diamond ring. 

 As for the younger brother, when spring came, he enjoyed it. He did not run away from it but looked at his ring and remembered, “This will also change.” When it changed he would smile and say “Well I knew it was going to change. It has changed, so what?” When autumn or winter came he again looked at his ring and remembered, “this will also change.” He did not grow depressed or angry knowing that it will change and yes it did change and pass away. Of all the ups and downs of life, all the ebbs and flows he knew that nothing is eternal, that everything comes just to pass away. He did not lose the balance of his mind and he lived a peaceful, happy life. This was the brother with the silver ring.