50. The rose and the cypress
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A king once went to an enlightened master to ask for a technique to become more powerful than his neighboring kings. He sat in front of the master and started telling him the purpose of his visit. The master listened patiently to the king. He then told the king to go into the royal garden where a rose plant and a cypress plant were growing side by side. He told the king, 'They are your teachers. They can teach you what you need to learn.'
The king went into the garden and saw the two plants, but could not understand what he was meant to learn from them. He went back to the master and asked, 'What do you mean, master? I am not able to understand what and how these plants will teach me.'
The master took the king to the plants and explained, 'This cypress plant has been next to the rose plant for so many years. Never once has it desired to become a rose plant.
Same way, the rose plant has never ever desired to become a cypress plant. If man had been the cypress plant, he would have compared himself with the rose plant and felt jealous at the attention that the rose plant was getting from people. Or if man were the rose plant, he would have looked at the cypress plant enviously, thinking how peaceful the plant was, without the torture of getting plucked by people all day!
The two plants flourished together because each plant used its energy for its own growth, not to compare itself with the other plant. The moment you stop comparing, jealousy simply disappears! You will realize that you are unique.