The Parable of the Warrior Princess is part of an interconnected series of tales from Tibetan Buddhism. Here it is:
A young warrior princess completed her training under a renowned teacher and was accorded the title Princess of Five Weapons. Armed appropriately, and embodying her forty-two virtues, she set out on the road leading to the eternal city. The road led the princess west, across the wide desert and into a forest. At twilight she reached the first trees, where she found other travelers who warned her to turn back. They spoke in fearful tones about an ogre, an eater of hearts, who lurked along the most shadowed paths, killing all those who happened by. But the princess was confident of her training. Fearless, she pressed on.
At a dark place, where branches overhung a stagnant stream, the ogre emerged from the underbrush. It was a phantom, a wraith, a brute with crushing hands. The princess deployed her five weapons, but the ogre was strong (and crafty) — one by one, the weapons of the princess were defeated. But she did not relent. After each weapon was spent and lay broken on the ground, the princess resumed the battle, challenging the ogre again and again.
Finally, the ogre paused, and asked her, “Youth, why are you not afraid?” “Ogre,” replied the princess. “Why should I be afraid? For in life, death is absolutely certain. What’s more,”…
What happens? That’s your creative task: finish this parable. In Tibetan Buddhism there is an established answer, something that the princess does or says that completes the story. But I want you to make this story your own. How does this parable end for you?
