Once upon a time there lived four schoolchildren. Each of them considered himself a skilled poet. One day they came to the Buddha temple, saw a bell there and decided to write poems about it. The first one began like this: There is a bell in this temple...
The second continued, inspired:
If you hit him, he sings “ding-dong!” The third, after thinking, said:
Not a cauldron, not a mortar, not a pestle...
And the fourth triumphantly finished the quatrain:
But it’s still made of copper!
Having composed a poem, the students began to recite it. They read, re-read, click their tongues, and praise themselves. Suddenly one of them shuddered, his face changed and said:
“I heard that in the old days, Wang Bo, when he was seventeen years old, wrote the poem “In the Palace of the Teng Prince.” This is an amazing poem, because the poet put his whole soul into it, gave all his strength and soon, poor fellow, died... I see that you and I have created poems that are even more amazing and beautiful. Apparently, our hour of death is near, brothers! The second student became worried:
[Wang Bo (647-675) is a famous Chinese poet. ]
- What if we have to die now? What should we do?
The third was smarter and immediately found a way out:
- Don't worry, brothers. I saw coffins in the temple. Let's ask them to sell them to us.
The schoolchildren went to the rector and asked to sell them coffins.
- What do you need them for? – the abbot was surprised. The students immediately told him everything and immediately recited the poems in a sing-song voice:
There is a bell in this temple; when you strike it, it sings “ding-dong!”
Not a cauldron, not a mortar, not a pestle, But still it is made of copper!
The abbot listened to the verses and ordered the novice to bring five coffins.
- Why five? – the students were amazed. “We only need four.”
“Yes, yes,” the abbot said meekly. “The fifth one is what I’m asking for myself.” A long time ago, I swore that I would immediately leave for another world if I met a person who wrote poetry that made even less sense than mine. Apparently, my last hour has come, since the wise Heaven and the all-merciful Buddha sent you to me!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru