The Bad and Good People
February 17th 2007 08:24
Category: Oriental Thoughts
One day, a young monk went to see his master. "Teacher, you said that we should save both bad and good people. But then bad people had lost their True Nature, so how can we call them human anymore? If they are not human, then they need not to be saved!" the young monk inquired.
The master was silent without answering his disciple's question. Then the master wrote the chinese letter "wo" (me), but written upside down.
"This is a letter but written upside down," answered the young monk.
"What is the letter?"
"The letter of 'wo'!"
"This 'wo' written upside down, can it be called a letter?" asked the teacher.
"Of course not!"
"If not, then why did you said that this is letter 'wo'?
"Yes, it is!", he corrected his words.
"If it is a letter, then why did you said that it is upside down?"
The young monk could not say anything, had no idea of what to reply.
"The 'wo' letter is a letter. A letter written upside down is also a letter. You said that this is a letter 'wo' and you knew that this letter was written upside down. It was because inside yourself you had understood well about the letter 'wo'. But then if you do not know letters, even if i write it upside down, you would not be able to distinguish it. After somebody tell you about it and after you see the real 'wo', then you will of course say that this is an upsidedown letter! The same applies to human. The bad and the good are both human. It is important that you understand what is the True Nature of human. When you encounter the bad, guide them to their True Nature. Then it would not be hard to save them...", so did the wise teacher explained.
Source: Zen dan Cangkir Teh
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Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
I'm tempted to print out this story, and stick copies of it over my walls.
But will content myself with reading it over again.