“One more creature, one more. How will they live without my giving," the Apple tree said to itself. It sought to give and to give.
The Apple tree started to feel weak. It got migraine headaches. It started to have all kinds of problems. It felt jittery. It felt uncomfortable in it’s own skin.
And the creatures around it were concerned. But no one knew what was wrong with the Apple tree.
The Apple tree lowered it's branches more and more towards the ground to reach all the creatures that wanted his fruits.
It had three long branches. It's three branches stretched further and further untill it's trunk finally split into three different parts.
Slowly the Apple tree started to wither up and die. It started to go into shock. It felt broken within itself. It did not know how to put itself back together again. Now it was not good for anyone.
Luckily there was a wise Banyan tree that was in the same grove as the Apple tree. The Banyan tree taught the Apple tree how to meditate on it’s roots. “You don’t have to worry about the health of every branch, limb and leaf. Your power is at your roots. Nourish the roots and the rest of you will be fed."
"Are you sure?" asked the Apple tree, unconvinced.
"O, Apple tree, meditate on your roots. That is your source of nourishment. In your trunk, those are the rings of spiritual time. The rings remain constant while all of your tree body changes constantly. Autumn will make your body change in one way. Spring will make your body change differently. Summer one way and Winter the other way. Change of the body is happening constantly. The more your awareness is intune with this change, the more it will be intune with all that is unchanging. That is the secret. Be in tune with the change and through it you will connect with all that is unchanging.”
The Apple tree did not even realize that he had roots. He looked down, and his trunk ended on the ground. He only believed in what he could see. So at first the Apple tree was very skeptical that he had roots. But the he was in so much pain. He felt he had very little to lose. He felt like he was about to lose consciousness and die at any second.
The Apple tree detached his consciousness from the leaves and buds. He detached his awareness of the fruits that hung from his branches. He detached his mind from the limbs and branches. And he focused on the trunk. The Apple tree could feel his mind resist greatly at doing this. It was so attached to what was at the tips of the leaves and twigs. It did not want to let go. But the Apple tree prayed and kept meditating on the trunk. The more it meditated on it’s trunks and it’s roots, it could feel a certain warmth in that area. He felt a certain flow through it’s arteries and it’s veins deep below that he had never before. How could simply the act of meditating on that part of the limb cause him to feel warmth in that area? Was je imagining all of this?
He didn’t stop. He kept meditating. The Apple tree felt focused in the rings in the tree.
It couldn’t hear anything around it. It seemed the world around it had gotten silent. The Apple tree was so determined to heal that it didn’t even let the disconcerting silence bother him.
Then the Apple tree felt the wind come from all different directions all at once. It came in a gust and it kept on building and building in strength. The Apple tree couldn't believe it. But the strength of the wind just kept increasing and increasing. It pushed on the outer-most bark. It pushed and pushed. The Apple tree kept meditating. The Apple tree felt the force of the wind coming in equal force from all sides pushing three parts of it's trunk that had split, back together. The Apple tree felt it's fractured interior into three come together bit by bit. The tree that had previously felt fractured, now felt whole.
The Apple tree bowed to the Banyan tree in gratitude.
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