One day, four monks locked themselves in a cell in a mountain temple, vowing to remain silent for seven days. Only a servant boy had access to them and brought everything he needed. As night fell, the lamp in the cell began to dim. It seemed like he was about to fade away. One of the monks, who was sitting closest to the fire than the others, became seriously alarmed and exclaimed:
- Boy, straighten the wick quickly!
Hearing this, the monk sitting next to him said:
- Who says this when he took a vow of silence?! The neighbor of the second one became very angry with both of them for breaking their vow and said:
- And what kind of people are you!
Then the senior monk, sitting in the main place, said with an important look:
“I was the only one who managed to remain silent!”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru