THE VOICE WITHIN

From the depths of his sorrow, the samurai vowed to avenge his beloved, by seeking out the tiger and killing it.

So he took his bow and arrow and sought out into the forest, month after month in search of the man-eating beast. Searching daily in the forest, the samurai filly saw a sleeping tiger in the distance and concluded this must be the tiger responsible for the death of his fiance.

He drew his bow, took careful aim and released the arrow which found its mark and pierced the tiger’s body. Drawing and mounting another arrow, he slowly approached the motionless creature to confirm the kill — only to find his arrow stuck deeply into a striped colored stone which happened to resemble that of a sleeping tiger!

After this, everyone in the region began to talk about how strong the samurai was, because he could pierce a stone with his arrow, and people became determined to test him. 

However, regardless of how many times he attempted to repeat the feat, his arrows kept bouncing off the rock. This was because he knew that his target was only a stone. In the past, his resolve had been so profound he was actually able to pierce a stone with his arrow. 

As a samurai, he could now appreciate that it is all a matter of mind...

—the harbinger