A Zen tale tells of three monks who practised meditation together, sitting by the side of a lake. One day, one monk opened his eyes and stood up to say, ‘I forgot my mat.’ Instead of walking around the lake to their hut, he stepped onto the water and serenely walked across the lake! Upon his return, the second monk declared, ‘I forgot to put my clothes to dry.’ He too walked across the water and returned the same way.
Now the third monk decided to test of his own abilities. He rose to declare, ‘your learning cannot be greater than mine… I too can match any feat you two can perform!’ he rushed to the water's edge to walk across it. He promptly fell into the deep water. Wet but undeterred, he climbed out of the water and tried again, only to sink into the water. The other two monks watched as this went on for some time.
After a while, the second monk turned to the first and said, "Do you think we should tell him where the stones are?"
Just because something appears easy for others; it may not be so for us. Disproportionate pride in our perceived abilities arises from a snooty attitude that makes us presume that we can easily do what others do effortlessly. In the quest to be better; we belittle the method and attach undue and bloated importance to our own capabilities.
So many things can be emulated successfully, only if we were willing to be humble learners! Pedro says, ‘avoid assumptions; to learn, simply ask’. After all, that’s how we learnt to do so many things in our childhood. Let’s shun childish arrogance and embrace childlike humility and eagerness to ask and learn…
May learning by humble asking never make us queasy…
sure, we can BE BETTER at doing what others find easy!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
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