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11/24/2007

The Master and his pupil

The master and his pupil were on the way. By and by the master bought small potatoes, which the pupil carried gladly. When they were several hours on the way, the load of the packages became a burden to the pupil, because their number had grown to much.

“Master?”

“Yes”

“Masters, the packages are very heavy, when will we go home?”
The master regarded his pupil thoughtfully. “A teacher is like the burden of learning. Why do you carry my packages? “

“- out of gratitude”, the pupil answered hesitating.

The master answered, “you want to be useful for me, but you have only one task - to learn. What do you learn now? “

The pupil was irritated. He put the packages on the ground. “However, I help gladly.”

“Then why prove the packages to be too heavy?”

Well, because i've become exhausted. I am tired. “

The master nodded. Take a break.”

They rested. They had come into a rural area, and it was calm The pupil fell in sleep easily. When he woke up again, the master said, “let us return.” He rose and was immediately gone, without waiting for the pupil.

The pupil wanted to pick up the packages, but even the smallest one seemed to be too heavy. Finally the pupil opened a package to have a look inside and found a stone.

Infuriated he ran after his master.

“Masters, why do you play a trick on me?”

The master stopped and looked at him frowningly. “Why don't bring the packages?”

“Because plays a trick on me. There is nothing but stones in the boxes. It makes no sense to drag stones so i left the packages behind. “

“That's it, as soon as the burden increase your resolution to be helpful makes no sense any more? ”, the master asked indifferently.

“However it must be feasible! ”, the pupil protested. The master fell silent.

A deer came out of the forest. The deer graze on a meadow. The master pointed to the edge of the forest. “Look -carries the deer any burden?”

“It is an animal”, returned the pupil.

The master nodded and showed on the stands. “The deer carries its own burden. If you wanted to help a deer , you would have to be a deer and if you wanted you to help me, you would have to be my master. “

“Does it mean, it is wrong to help?”

“No, it means that it is wrong to do things for others while you can do things for yourself. If it would be your which to carry packages, you would be prepared for even the heaviest packages and you would be happy, if you transported them. “

The pupil nodded. “I understand, I do not want not to carry these stupid packages.”

The masters features hardened and appeared aloof. The master fell silent.

“Master, are you angry with me?”

The master shook his head. “There I am, alone, old and nobody around who helps me. It is alright. “

The pupil was confused. It bothered him, that his master should be an old weak man. Why then learn from him? Still he did not want to drag stones. The pupil got an idea. He had learned much and so far gladly from his master. His masters put him obviously to test. Thus he empathized with his master, felt old and lonely. He felt the burden of age and the routine, how day followed after day and the body became weaker and weaker. He saw himself sitting as grandchildren on the knees of his grandparents. They had been needy at the end of their life.

The master rose. “You understood. Now come on. “

“And the packages?”

But the master went on to the sunset on the horizon.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This story resonates with me. I sense an analogy can be made between our personal elders and the Master in this story. As members of our family age, we have choices to empathize, to assist them at the expense of focusing on our own life and independence. It is the choice to focus on self or selflessness that stretches the spirit and reminds us who we are.