In the old days there lived a preacher who taught how to know the path to immortality. The king sent for him, but the messenger was in no hurry, and that preacher died. The king became very angry and was about to execute the messenger when his beloved servant gave the king advice:
“People fear death most of all and value life most of all.” If the preacher himself lost his life, how could he make the king immortal?
And the messenger was spared.
A certain poor man wanted to learn immortality and, hearing that the preacher had died, began beating his chest out of frustration. The rich man heard about this and began to laugh at him:
“You don’t know what you were going to learn.” After all, the one from whom they wanted to learn immortality died. Why are you upset?
“The rich man is not telling the truth,” said Hu Tzu. “It happens that a person who has a remedy is not able to use it. It also happens that those who are able to use the remedy do not possess it.
A certain man knew how to count perfectly. Before his death, he passed on his secret to his son in the form of a parable. The son remembered, but was unable to apply this knowledge. He conveyed his father’s words to another person who asked him about it. And that man used the secret no worse than the deceased did. That's how it is with immortality! Couldn't the deceased tell us how to know the path to immortality?
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru