reflections on education, business and spirituality
The new disciple approached the master and said, “I cannot take this any more. You are slowly stripping away all my traditions, all the beliefs I had ingrained in me since childhood. Why are you doing this? I need some solid ground.”
The master replied, “What is the solid ground of the fish swimming in the vastness of the ocean? Or of the migratory bird as it glides across continents?”
After breakfast one day, the master addressed his disciples and said:
“All I do is sit by the riverbank selling river water. And all you fools come, and line up and wait to buy this water, not realizing that any time, you can go to the river and draw water for yourselves.”
Back when I was still unmarried and living in another city that was close to the sea, I used to hang out with my friends at the beach. Sometimes we would even spend the night there.
I remember this one night. It was near midnight and we were outside sitting on the sand chatting and feeling the sea breeze blow through our hair. One of us suddenly says, “Hey, look at the moon.”
It had been cloudy a bit earlier but now the sky was clear and the full moon hung like a big ball of light in the sky. The sea was calm and the moon’s reflection on it was quite breathtaking, the ripples of the waves caused the light to glint and dance. It seemed the reflection was even more beautiful than the moon itself.
Earlier tonight, I walked on the dirty, wet streets of the city I now reside in. The heavy rain from earlier on had abated. A passing car almost splashed muddy water on me as it sped across a small puddle. I glared at the car’s tail lights and was about to move on when I caught the moon’s reflection on the puddle. It was a full moon and it was beautiful.
Too often in life, we chase after those things that are beautiful and try to avoid those that are ugly. We run after prestige, money, power, good food, good wine. We don’t like pain, and we don’t like to experience hardships.
Yet, we should remember that the moon casts a beautiful reflection whether it casts it on the sea or on a muddy puddle. The moon is still the moon and its beauty is not marred by the medium of reflection.
Life has so many facets and forms but underneath it all, our substance is the same. We should learn to see the beauty in life, whether it takes the form of a rose or of a rat. These are just external manifestations of the same inner core and substance.
In the end, we should recognize the beauty of all things, of all people, and accept that we are all reflections of the one truth, that we are all part of each other, and that there is no beauty or ugliness apart from ourselves.
A visitor came to the monastery where the master resided. He was amazed at the huge number of monks he saw everywhere. “There must be over two or three thousand of them here,” he thought.
When he was finally ushered in to see the master, the first question he asked was, “Revered sir, exactly how many disciples do you have in this place?”
The master replied, “Oh, I think around four or five at the most.”
“Master,” said the disciple. “Is there life after death?”
“Why do you ask?” said the master.
“I was just thinking how horrible it would be not to love or laugh or sing or dream,” said the disciple.
The master laughed. “Most people don’t even do those things before death. Or if they do, they do them only superficially. The right question is, ‘Is there life before death?'”