In those distant times, the highest meaning of learning was the desire to free oneself from selfishness and egoism, which blocked a person’s opportunity to enter the subtle spheres of intuitive knowledge.
At the foot of the mountain, in a valley covered with beautiful flowers, stood a small, conveniently arranged hermitage. She was in a cave carved into the rock. A Master lived in it with one student.
When the morning dawn illuminated the mountain peaks, and colorful flowers smiled wonderfully on their slopes, the Master and his student began to sing hymns to the rising sun. This reminded them of the awakening of wisdom after a long sleep of ignorance. They smiled along with nature, waking up after a night's rest.
When the dawn had not yet broken over the valley, the Master, as usual, demanded that the disciple sit upright, in a state of meditation, listening to his sermon with full attention.
One day the Master noticed that the student was not attentive enough, so he asked:
- My son, why is your mind not completely focused on my sermon, please tell me what distracts you?
The student replied:
- Dear Master, my mind is distracted by a buffalo grazing in a green meadow, which I recently acquired.
The master stood up and invited the student to follow him. Taking him to a small separate room in the cave, he told him to close the door and think only of the buffalo.
The next morning the Master looked through the small window into the room. The student was meditating. He asked the student:
- My son, what are you doing?
He replied:
- Sir, I am grazing with a buffalo in the meadow. Should I go out?
- No, my son. Go and graze with your buffalo!
The second day has passed. And the next morning the Master asked through the small window:
- My dear, what are you doing?
- Oh, Master, now I look at the buffalo in my room and feed it. Should I come to you with my buffalo?
- Not yet, my son. Extend the vision of the buffalo and its feeding.
So two more days passed in meditation on the buffalo. On the fifth day the Master asked through the window:
- My son, please tell me what are you doing now?
The student just hummed in response:
- How can I get out through this narrow door?
Then the Master walked into the room and brought the student out of his trance. The student smiled, feeling that he was walking on four legs.
After this, the Master asked many deep questions, and the student answered correctly as never before.
“Now your concentration has reached a perfect state,” said the Master.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru