Noble And Ignoble

Written by Dhammacaro

In our human society people like to judge one another to discern who is noble or ignoble, wise or unwise. Usually they use materialism to judge nobility or ignobility, wisdom or stupidity. However, these issues have nothing to do with materialism. They are about knowledge and wisdom. There is a Zen story which gives a good example of this. Here is the story:

There once was a Zen Master who liked to test out his visitors to discover whether they were noble or ignoble, wise or unwise. He liked to ask them questions which none of them could answer correctly.Nobody, that is, until one day, he met a man named Kuangyerng, who liked studying Dhamma and poetry and practicing Zen meditation.

When they met, the Zen Master asked him, "Why do you come here?" Kuangyerng answered, "I come to pay respects to you, great Master. How are you? "The Master asked him another question, "Do you see me, when you ask me how I am?" He answered, "Yes, of course I do." The Master asked him the next question, "What do I look like: a monk or a donkey?" He replied to the Master, "You look like neither a monk nor a donkey." The Master asked him again, "If I am neither a monk nor a donkey, what do I look like then?" In response, Kuangyerng asked the Master, "Why do you need to be something? What is different about a monk and a donkey? If you want to be something, you just think it and be it."

These answers amazed the Master and he said to Kuangyerng, "You are noble and wise, for you can answer all my questions. For years I have asked people these same questions, but no one could answer them. You are the one man who could. You must maintain your knowledge of indifference for all time." The man too was amazed by what the Master had to say, and replied, "Yes sir, I will keep on learning and practicing Dhamma to sharpen my knowledge and thinking."

This story reminds us that being noble or ignoble, wise or unwise,has nothing to do with materialistic things. It is all about knowledge and wisdom; how much we learn and practice and with how much effort we train ourselves. If you want to know how noble or ignoble, wise or unwise you are, you can test yourself with the questions of the Master or remind yourself of Kuangyerng’s answers. Then you will know. And don’t forget when you know, you should put what you know into practice.