Once upon a time there lived an extremely lazy monk. During his ten years in the monastery, he did not read a single sermon. He showed no zeal for anything, and the only thing he could be motivated to do was to monitor how the future monks observed religious rituals.
One day, on the first day of Tinjan, many people gathered in the monastery. When all the ceremonies scheduled for that day were over, the parishioners turned to the monk with a request to read a sermon. However, the monk was true to himself and refused.
[Tinjan is a New Year's holiday celebrated in mid-April.]
– Do you know what a sermon is? he asked.
“We don’t know,” the parishioners answered.
“What’s the point of reading a sermon to people who don’t even know what it is?” such! – the monk concluded angrily and turned to his students, who were busy collecting donations.
– Finish with this matter! - he ordered and went to the bedchamber.
So the parishioners were forced to go home with nothing.
On the second day of the holiday, the parishioners again gathered in the monastery. And again they asked the monk to read a sermon. But the monk asked them the same question:
– Do you know what a sermon is?
“We know, teacher,” the parishioners answered unanimously this time.
- Well, if you know, then there is no need to read it. And, as before, having given orders to his disciples, the monk went to the bedchamber.
Finally, the most solemn day came - the day of Tinjan's arrival. The meticulous parishioners who had gathered at the monastery for this occasion again approached the monk with a request to read a sermon. However, this time the monk was true to himself.
– Do you know what a sermon is? – he asked the annoying parishioners.
And they so wanted to hear the monk’s sermon that they decided to resort to a trick.
“Those on the northern side don’t know, but those on the southern side know.”
- So let those on the south side tell it to those on the north! - said the monk and, as before, went home.
However, a vague anxiety crept into the monk’s soul.
“On the first day of the New Year, I will certainly be forced to read a sermon,” the monk thought, “and it’s inconvenient to endlessly shirk my duties. What to do? Maybe I should still try to learn some sermon? No, I don’t want to, they are too long! If I still get lost in the middle, then there will be no shame! I'd rather write the sermon myself. This way I’ll be calmer.”
He took a board and a bamboo stick, turned on the light, sat down comfortably and began to think. He thought and thought, but didn’t come up with anything - he didn’t know where to start. And in general he did not even have a vague idea of what a sermon was and how it should be read. The sermon, he reasoned, should probably talk about what is happening in the world. So I’ll take it and write down everything that happens tonight. And the monk began to listen to the sounds of the night. Suddenly he hears a deer running. And he wrote down: “Deer tsk-tsk.” Then he listened again. From the direction of the swamp, the croaking of frogs was heard. And the monk wrote down the following phrase: “Frog qua-qua.” From early evening until. very morning there were loud cries of a wild rooster. He wrote about this in his essay: “The rooster crows - there’s no time for sleep.” In short, the monk wrote down everything he heard. And when morning came and the peasants went to the field, he began to listen to their conversations and then wrote them down like this: “Who are you? Where am I? I wish my mother well!” The monk finished his essay with these sweet-sounding words.
On the first day of the New Year, the monk announced to the parishioners that he intended to read a sermon. This message caused general delight.
“This will not be an empty sermon,” said the monk, “it contains vital truths.” Listen carefully! I mention in my sermon all the important events of the past night!
Raising the thumb of his right hand upward and tuning into a solemn mood, in a low and melodious voice he sang: “Deer - tsk-tsk! Frog - qua-qua! The rooster crows - there's no time for sleep here! Who are you? Where am I? I wish my mother well!”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru