The Bad and Good People
One day, a young monk went to see his master. "Teacher, you said thatwe should save both bad and good people. But then bad people had losttheir True Nature, so how can we call them human anymore? If they arenot human, then they need not to be saved!" the young monk inquired.
The master was silent without answering his disciple's question. Thenthe master wrote the chinese letter "wo" (me), but written upside down.
"What is this?", the teacher asked.
"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 aletter. You said that this is a letter 'wo' and you knew that thisletter was written upside down. It was because inside yourself you hadunderstood well about the letter 'wo'. But then if you do not knowletters, even if i write it upside down, you would not be able todistinguish it. After somebody tell you about it and after you see thereal 'wo', then you will of course say that this is an upsidedownletter! 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 itwould not be hard to save them...", so did the wise teacher explained.
Source: Zen dan Cangkir Teh
http://qisas.com/stories/263
One day, a young monk went to see his master. "Teacher, you said thatwe should save both bad and good people. But then bad people had losttheir True Nature, so how can we call them human anymore? If they arenot human, then they need not to be saved!" the young monk inquired.
The master was silent without answering his disciple's question. Thenthe master wrote the chinese letter "wo" (me), but written upside down.
"What is this?", the teacher asked.
"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 aletter. You said that this is a letter 'wo' and you knew that thisletter was written upside down. It was because inside yourself you hadunderstood well about the letter 'wo'. But then if you do not knowletters, even if i write it upside down, you would not be able todistinguish it. After somebody tell you about it and after you see thereal 'wo', then you will of course say that this is an upsidedownletter! 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 itwould not be hard to save them...", so did the wise teacher explained.
Source: Zen dan Cangkir Teh
http://qisas.com/stories/263
