Not Only From The Teacher, But From You As A Good Student

The Buddha said, Dhamma study and practice are the first things to do in my way of life. With that saying, the Buddha gave the highest importance to both study and practice. Therefore, a Buddhist should think about these two things. There are also other good factors students and practitioners are advised to follow. Here they are: a good teacher, a true teaching, a good student or practitioner, and good methods. When these four factors are met, and well performed, achievement follows.

The truth is, a fact is a fact. We, students, must place ourselves in the right position: that of a good student. If we are good students, we can learn from everything and everyone, no matter which are good or which are bad. In relation to this there is a famous Zen story that I would like to tell to you. Here is the story:

A monk called himself the ‘Master of Silence’. He was actually a fraud and had no genuine understanding. To sell his humbug Zen, he had two eloquent attendant monks to answer questions for him; but he himself never uttered a word, as if to show his inscrutable ‘silent Zen’.

One day, during the absence of his two attendants, a pilgrim monk came to him and asked, Master, what is the Buddha? Not knowing what to do or to answer, in his confusion he could only look desperately round in all directions east and west, here and there for his missing mouthpieces.

The pilgrim monk, apparently satisfied, then asked him, What is the dharma, sir? He could not answer this question either, so he first looked up at the ceiling and then down at the floor, calling for help from heaven and hell. Again the monk asked, What is Zen? Now the Master of Silence could do nothing but close his eyes. Finally the monk asked, What is blessing? In desperation, the Master of Silence helplessly spread his hands to the questioner as a sign of surrender.

But the pilgrim was very pleased and satisfied with this interview. He left the ‘Master’ and set out again on his journey. On the road the pilgrim met the attendant monks on the way home, and began telling them enthusiastically what an enlightened being this Master of silence was.

He said, I asked him what the Buddha is. He immediately turned his face to the east and then to the west, implying that human beings are always looking for Buddha here and there, but actually Buddha is not to be found either in the east or in the west. I then asked him what the dharma is. In answer to this question he looked up and down, meaning that the truth of dharma is that it is completely non-judgmental, there being no discrimination between high and low, while both purity and impurity can be found therein.

In answering my question as to what Zen was, he simply closed his eyes and said nothing. That was a clue to the famous saying: ’If one can close his eyes and sleeps soundly in the deep recesses of the cloudy mountains, he is a great monk indeed!’

Finally, in answering my last question, ’What is a blessing?’ he stretched out his arms and showed both his hands to me. This implied that he was stretching out his helping hands to guide sentient beings with his blessings. Oh, what an enlightened Zen Master! How profound is his teaching!

When the attendant monks returned, the ‘Master of Silence’ scolded them thus, Where have you been all this time? A while ago I was embarrassed to death, and almost ruined, by an inquisitive pilgrim".

From the story, it can be seen that the teacher is not the one who can really help you understand. It mainly comes from you, the student. We must be good students who dedicate our life to learning from everyone who we come across and observing everything around us. We should be like an inquisitive pilgrim who learns from all the actions of his Master of Silence without having any opinion. It is a good example, isn’t it?