There once was a master who went to India. In those times， we didnt have the communications or airplanes or many kinds of transportation that we do now. So the master went to India on foot. He had never been to India before； perhaps he came from Persia. And when he got there， he saw a lot of fruit. In India they have plenty of fruit to sell， but much of it is expensive because they cant grow much due to the water situation. So he saw one basket， a big basket of some very red， long fruit. And it was the cheapest in the shop， not expensive at all.

So he went up and asked，“How much is it per kilo？” and the shopkeeper said，“Two rupees.”Two rupees in India is nothing， its like dirt. So he bought a whole kilogram of the fruit and started eating it. But after he ate some of it： oh， my God！ His eyes watered， his mouth watered and burned， his eyes were burning， his head was burning and his face became red. As he coughed and choked and gasped for breath， he jumped up and down， saying， “ah！ ah！ ah！”

But he still continued to eat the fruit！ Some people who were looking at him shook their heads and said， “Youre crazy， man. Those are chilies！ You cant eat so many，theyre not good for you！ People use them as a condiment， but only a little bit to put into food for taste. You cant just eat them by the handful like that， theyre not fruit！”But the stupid master said， “No， I cant stop！ Ipaid money for them， and now Ill eat them. It，s my money！”

And you think that master was stupid， right？ Similarly， we sometimes do a lot of things like that. We invest money， time or effort in a relationship， business or job. And even though its been a long time， bitter experience tells us it wont work， and we know theres no more hope that things will change in the future—this we definitely know by intuition— we still continue just because weve invested money， time， effort and love into it. If so， were kaput in the brain. Just like the man who ate the chilies and suffered so much but couldnt stop because he didnt want to waste the money hed paid.

So even if youve lost something，let it go and move on. Thats better than continuing to lose.

從前有一位師父，他到印度去，那時(shí)候因?yàn)榻煌ú话l(fā)達(dá)，沒(méi)有飛機(jī)，不像現(xiàn)在有很多交通工具，所以這位師父就步行去印度。他有可能是波斯人，以前沒(méi)去過(guò)印度。他到印度時(shí)，看見(jiàn)許許多多的水果。在印度，因?yàn)槿彼木壒?，水果產(chǎn)量不多，許多小店雖然擺滿了水果，但多半都很貴。那位師父發(fā)現(xiàn)有個(gè)大籃子里面裝著一種紅色長(zhǎng)條形的水果，這種水果的價(jià)格最便宜，一點(diǎn)都不貴。

他就走過(guò)去詢問(wèn)：“這個(gè)一公斤要多少錢？”小販回答：“兩盧比?！眱杀R比在印度根本不算什么，像塵土一樣不值錢，于是他就買了整整一公斤，然后開(kāi)始吃。 吃了幾口之后，這位師父就眼淚、口水齊流，眼睛發(fā)紅，嘴巴辣得像著了火一樣，整個(gè)頭好像要燒起來(lái)，他又咳又嗆，滿臉通紅地喘不過(guò)氣來(lái)，在那里邊上竄下跳邊叫：“??！啊！??！”

不過(guò)他還是繼續(xù)吃！有人看到他這樣子后，就搖搖頭說(shuō)：“老兄，你是腦袋壞掉啦？這是辣椒耶！不能吃那么多，這樣對(duì)你不好。辣椒是用來(lái)調(diào)味的，煮菜時(shí)每次只放一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)在食物里增加味道。這個(gè)不是水果，不能這樣整把拿起來(lái)吃啊！”但那位笨師父說(shuō)：“不行，我已經(jīng)花錢買了，就要把它吃完，這可都是我的錢哪！”

你們覺(jué)得這位師父很笨，是嗎？其實(shí)我們有時(shí)候也做很多類似的傻事。有時(shí)候我們?cè)诟星榛蚴聵I(yè)工作上，投入了金錢、時(shí)間和精力，經(jīng)過(guò)長(zhǎng)期的經(jīng)營(yíng)之后，我們從慘痛的經(jīng)驗(yàn)中知道行不通，直覺(jué)也很清楚未來(lái)不會(huì)有任何轉(zhuǎn)機(jī)，但我們還是舍不得放棄，因?yàn)橐呀?jīng)投入了金錢、時(shí)間、精力和感情在里面。像這種情形，表示說(shuō)我們頭腦壞掉了，就像那個(gè)吃辣椒的人一樣，明明已經(jīng)那么痛苦了，還是不肯停止，只因?yàn)椴幌氚装桌速M(fèi)已經(jīng)付出的錢。

所以，就算你會(huì)有所損失，但還是要放下，然后繼續(xù)前進(jìn)！這樣總比一直損失下去要好。

（唐 敏 供稿）