By Dr Neel Burton — Psychiatrist, philosopher, and wine writer; Fellow of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford; author of over twenty books.

There is an old Japanese story about a monk and a samurai. 

One day, a Zen monk walking between temples along a shaded brook came upon a bruised and bedraggled samurai.

“Whatever happened to you?” asked the monk.

“We were conveying our lord’s treasure when we were set upon by bandits. But I feigned death and was the only one of my company to survive. As I lay among the bodies, a question kept turning in my mind. Tell me, little monk, what is the difference between heaven and hell?”

“What noble samurai plays dead while his companions are slain! Shame on you! You ought to have fought to the death. Look at you: a disgrace to your master and your ancestors. You are not worthy of the air you breathe, let alone of my hard-earned wisdom!”

At all this, the samurai rose up in rage and seemed to double in size as he drew out his sword, swung it over his head, and brought it down upon the monk.

Just before the blade fell, the monk said calmly, “This is hell.”

The samurai swerved at the last instant. The blade missed the monk by inches and slipped from his hand. The samurai fell to his knees with a clatter of armour. “Thank you for risking your life to teach a stranger a lesson,” he said. “Please forgive me for threatening you.”

“And that,” said the monk, “is heaven.”

Neel Burton is author of Heaven and Hell: The Psychology of the Emotions