This happened a long time ago. Three centuries ago. Or maybe even earlier. There lived in the Mekhyan mountains, in a monastery, a wizard, and his name was Samendan. Samendan in Korea had no equal in magic. And suddenly I heard that in the Zhangan Monastery, in the Diamond Mountains, there lived a Buddhist monk named Sosan-Desa, and his fame spread throughout the world. Then Samendan decided to go to the Diamond Mountains, compete with the monk and prove his superiority.
Sosan-Desa found out about this, called one of his students and said:
- Today I am waiting for a guest from the monastery in the Mekhyan mountains. Go and meet him.
The student was surprised and answered:
- How can I meet him if I’ve never seen him?
“It’s very simple,” says Sosan-Desa. “As soon as he appears, the water in the river will flow back.”
The student did not believe the teacher, but went to meet the guest. He was walking along the shore, and suddenly he saw that the water in the river had flowed backwards, and at that very moment a Buddhist monk approached him. The student realized then that this was the guest from the monastery, bowed and said:
“I live in Zhangan Monastery in the Diamond Mountains and came here to meet you.”
Samendan was surprised, but didn’t show it and said politely:
- I am very grateful to you for your attention. - He said and went to the monastery together with the student.
He saw Sosan-Desa, caught a flying bird, put it in his palm and asked:
- Alive or dead?
Sosan-Desa went to meet the guest, crossed the threshold and also asked:
— Am I going into the room or going out?
The guest and the owner laughed and said hello. We sat down.
Sosan-Desa ordered to bring a bowl of water; fish were swimming in the water. And he says to Samendan:
“You and I are Buddhists, and we are not supposed to eat fish.” But you can swallow it and spit it out alive.
The wizards began to swallow fish. In Sosan-Des all the fish are alive, while in Samendan they are all dead.
They began to build a pyramid of eggs. Samendan folds from bottom to top, Sosan-Desa from top to bottom. It's already lunch time, and they're all competing. The owner says to the guest:
“Try my noodle soup,” and he hands him a bowl of needles. Samendan cannot swallow needles, but Sosan-Desa eats and praises him.
From that time on, Samendan no longer considered himself the best wizard; he signed up as a student with Sosan-Desa.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru