A young man named Le Tzu met a sorcerer and fell under his spell. When he returned, he told his Master everything.
“I considered your teaching to be the highest, but now I have learned something more perfect.”
“I did not reveal the external to you until you comprehended the internal essence,” said the Master. - How do you judge the teaching? If there is no rooster near the chickens, where will the chickens come from? Thinking that you had comprehended the teaching and could compete with others, you became proud, so the sorcerer read everything on your face. Come here with him.
The next day Le Tzu appeared to the Teacher along with the sorcerer. When they left, the sorcerer said to Le Tzu:
- Alas, your Teacher will die soon. I saw something strange: ashes filled with water.
Le Tzu entered the Teacher, sobbed so much that he wet his clothes with his tears, and conveyed to him the words of the sorcerer.
“I seemed to him like the surface of the earth, without vegetation, without movement. Apparently, he also sensed some kind of obstacle in the source of my vital energy. Bring him again.
The next day Le Tzu appeared again with the sorcerer. When they left, he said to Le Tzu:
- It’s happiness that your Teacher met me. He's better. Life appeared in him. I noticed that energy was penetrating through the barrier.
Le Tzu entered the Teacher and handed over everything to him.
“This time I appeared before him in the form of heaven and earth, where concepts such as “name” and “essence” have no access. So it seemed to him that energy was penetrating through the barrier, and I felt better. Come here with him again.
The next day Le Tzu again appeared with the sorcerer to the Master. When they left, he said:
- Your Teacher is worried. It's hard to read his face. Calm him down and I'll visit him again.
Le Tzu entered the Teacher and conveyed to him what the sorcerer had said. The teacher said:
“This time he saw the Great Emptiness in me, without the slightest sign of anything, and took it as a sign of the balance of vital forces.
The next day, Le Tzu, together with the sorcerer, again appeared to the Teacher. Before the sorcerer had time to take his place, he walked away in confusion.
“Catch up with him,” the Master ordered.
Le Tzu ran, but could not catch up with him, so he returned and reported:
- I didn’t catch up! He has disappeared somewhere! Lost!
“I seemed to him like an embryo, as I was before I was born.” He did not understand who I am, what I am. He saw either fading or a rapid flow. “I got confused, so I ran away,” said the Master.
At that moment, Le Tzu realized that he had not yet begun to study, he returned home and did not come to the Master for three years.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru