The man who knows is the blindest man in the world. Because he acts based on his knowledge, he does not see what is happening. He just continues to act mechanically. He learned something; this has become a prepared mechanism in him, and he acts from it.
In Japan there were two temples, hostile to each other, as has been the case with all temples in all centuries. The priests could not stand each other to such an extent that they stopped even looking at each other. For many centuries the priests of these two temples did not speak to each other.
Each of the priests had a little boy to serve them and carry out assignments. The priests on both sides were afraid that the boys might become friends.
One priest said to his boy:
“Remember, the other temple is hostile to us.” Never talk to a boy from another temple. These are dangerous people - avoid them like you would a dangerous disease.
The boy became interested... because he got tired listening to sermons. He couldn't understand them. Strange scriptures were read, great eternal problems were discussed. He had no one to play with, no one to even talk to. And when they told him: “Don’t talk to the boy from another temple,” a great temptation arose in him. That same day he couldn't resist talking to another boy. Seeing him on the road, he asked:
-Where are you going?
The other boy was a bit of a philosopher; listening to all this great philosophy, he became a philosopher. He said:
- Am I going? No one comes or goes! Everything happens... Where the wind takes me...
He heard the master say many times that this is how the Buddha lives - like a dead leaf, and moves wherever the wind takes him. And the boy said:
- I'm not going! There is no doer; how can I go? What nonsense are you talking about? I'm a dead leaf. Wherever the wind takes me...
The other boy was speechless. He couldn't even answer. He couldn't find any words. He was very embarrassed, he was ashamed, and he felt:
“My master was right in forbidding me to talk to these people - they are truly dangerous. What kind of conversation is this? I asked the question: “Where are you going?” In fact, I already knew where he was going because we were both going to the market to buy vegetables. A simple answer would be enough."
He returned home and said to his master:
- Excuse me. You forbade me, but I did not listen to you. In fact, because of your prohibition, temptation arose. For the first time I spoke to these dangerous people. I just asked a simple question: “Where are you going?”, and he began to say strange things: “No one comes, no one leaves. Who's coming? Who's leaving? I am a complete emptiness"; he said: “...I am just like a dead leaf in the wind. And wherever the wind takes me..."
Master said:
- I told you so! Well, tomorrow stand in the same place, and when he comes, ask him again: “Where are you going?” And when he says all these things, just say, “It's true. Yes, you are a dead leaf, just like me. But when the wind doesn't blow, where do you go? Where can you go then? Just say this, and it will confuse him - and he needs to be embarrassed, he needs to be defeated. We compete constantly and these people have managed to beat us in every debate so far. Therefore, we must win tomorrow!
Rising early in the morning, the first boy prepared an answer and repeated it many times before leaving the house. Then he stood in the same place where the second boy appeared yesterday, repeated the answer several more times, and then he saw the second boy. He said to himself: “Well, now I’ll show him!”
When he approached, he asked:
-Where are you going?
But the second boy said:
-Where my feet take me...
No mention of the wind, no talk of emptiness, no talk of inaction... What to do? His entire ready answer looks absurd. Now it would be inappropriate to talk about the wind. He was defeated again, and now he felt really ashamed of his own stupidity, and he thought: “This boy certainly knows strange things. Now he says: “Where my feet take me...”
He returned to his master. Master said:
“I asked you not to talk to these people!” They are dangerous, we know this from centuries of experience. But now we have to do something. So tomorrow ask again: “Where are you going?”, and when he says: “Where my legs are taking me,” tell him: “And if you don’t have legs, what then?” One way or another he must be silenced.
So the next day he asked again:
-Where are you going? - and began to wait for an answer.
And the second boy said:
— I’m going to the market to buy vegetables.
A person usually acts from the past, and life continues to change. Life has no obligation to live up to your conclusions. This is why life is so confusing to a knowledgeable person. He has all the answers prepared in advance: Bhagavad Gita, Holy Koran, Bible, Vedas. But life never asks the same question twice. Therefore, a knowledgeable person never reaches life.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru