Several people ran to the teacher and began to ask questions, interrupting each other. Finally the master managed to establish order, and they were able to ask their questions in turn. The first person said:
“I searched for many years, but found nothing.” The second one said:
— I found pleasure in the search process itself: is this its meaning?
The third said:
“Sometimes it seems to me that I have found it, and sometimes that I haven’t and that I must continue the search.”
The fourth said:
“Sometimes I doubt myself, sometimes my teacher, sometimes the truth itself.”
The master answered:
— There are hundreds of such questions and there is only one answer. Listen.
It is known how one day many people decided to dig up a treasure. They took all the necessary tools and went to the place where it was buried. They began excavations.
Some quickly got tired and thought that the treasure was not worth such effort. Some people found fragments of tiles and from time to time thought that this was the treasure. Others enjoyed their work, thinking that this was the joy of seeking and finding. Some again, looking at the abundance of stones and dirt around, lost faith, for they were weak in spirit.
And there were many other people, men and women, who felt different things as they invested time and effort into the work. And when time passed and their strength dried up, they became victims of delusions and fictions.
Those who were persistent finally found the hidden chest, those who debated and chatted did not. Those who did not find the treasure devoted the rest of their days to searching for explanations and justifications for this, but the initiates had already hidden the treasure.
And so those, confused and deceived, wandered from one sage to another, asking what was in the chest, where it was now and how they could take possession of it.
And the sages, one and all, told them that none of this would become available to them until they became like those who succeeded in the quest. But people were looking for success, not for leadership, because they were confident that from the very beginning they possessed all the qualities: mind, body and spirit, sufficient for their quest to be successfully completed.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru