Once upon a time, on the edge of a village there was a monastery. And in that monastery lived a wise monk, revered by all the inhabitants of the village, an elder who was preparing to take monastic vows, and several disciples. The old man was known as a great debater. No matter what anyone talked about, he always proved the opposite.
At that time, a small sprout began to emerge near the well in the monastery courtyard. It was still difficult to determine what kind of tree it was.
– What kind of plant do you think this is? – the old man once asked the monk.
“It looks like tamarind,” answered the monk.
“Well, no,” the old man immediately objected, “it’s most likely a banyan tree.”
They argued and continued arguing until sunset, not wanting to give in to each other.
Then the elder decided to resort to cunning. All night long one could hear from his room: “Nyaun, nyaun, nyaun!” And the monk thought: “Banyan tree.” And, wanting to defeat his opponent, he shouted tirelessly: “Tamarind, tamarind.” The same thing continued throughout the next day.
The third night came. And again, from the elder’s room, loudly the whole monastery heard: “Nyaun, nyaun.” The monk, tired of the continuous argument, decided to find out how the elder managed to so tirelessly argue that he was right. He slowly enters the elder’s cell and sees: the elder is sleeping sweetly, and “nyaun, nyaun” the cat screams, trying in vain to escape from the mat in which the elder had wrapped her.
So the cantankerous old man outwitted the wise monk.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru