Sample Readings #3

In a quiet street in Hanoi, shaded by tamarind trees and filled with the scent of temple incense, an old bookseller ran a humble stall. One afternoon, I asked him how he seemed so happy despite his simple life. He paused, poured tea into a cup for me and then for himself, and smiled:

"This is not my first life. I have already been rich. I have already been important. Now, I am learning other things."

His words struck me like a pebble dropped in still water. Perhaps our struggles, losses, and limitations are not failures but chapters in a larger journey. Possibly simplicity, patience, and inner peace are forms of abundance more profound than wealth or status.

Whether reincarnation is literal or metaphorical, the idea offers a quiet peace: today’s life is only one chapter in an ancient story. Each soul carries lessons beyond memory, and every seeming lack may be the soil for deeper growth.

And at that moment, the whole idea of success fell apart.

The soul’s journey humbles us. It reminds us not to judge others’ paths because we cannot see the contracts they carry or the lessons they are meant to learn.