The Danger

Having an opinion and making a judgment are the two most dangerous things in this life; both are delicate issues and difficult to avoid. They are really delicate because they are additions to daily contact, to what is seen, heard, and thought. Having formed an opinion and judgment distracts from the real nature or truth of the contact. Worse than this, opinions and judgments can cause fear, worry, and anxiety for living beings. There is a Zen story which gives a good example of the consequences of having an opinion and making a judgment. We can learn from this and make use of the moral of the story. Here is the story:

There once lived a monk, who observed precepts so strictly that it caused worry and anxiety to him. One day he had to go downhill to the town and came back late. On the way back to the temple while he was walking pass the pond, he stepped on something which sounded like a frog. He felt very guilty that he had broken his precepts by killing an animal. He thought, "If that frog had spawned, I may have killed a thousand frogs." That night he could not sleep well. When he finally fell asleep, he had a bad dream that a thousand of frogs came to him and asked for their life back. He woke up in fear, worry and anxiety in the middle of the night and could not sleep again until the morning.

In the morning he went to the pond with the intention of conducting a funeral service for the frog he had accidentally killed the previous night. When he went to the pond, he did not find a dead frog. What he saw was an egg-plant. At that point he experienced a tremendous feeling of relief; all his fear, worry and anxiety disappeared. He thought back to what had caused him that fear, worry and anxiety and discovered that it was having an opinion and making a judgment.

It is absolutely true. If we add an opinion and judgment to what we have seen, heard and thought, we will be distracted and move far away from the truth. When the truth goes away, fear, worry and anxiety come in its place. The reverse is also true: when truth appears, opinion and judgment disappear. Furthermore, when opinion and judgment disappear, fear, worry and anxiety also disappear and calmness, tranquility, peace, happiness and wisdom come in their place.

When we see the danger of having an opinion and judgment, we know then that we must stop forming them. We should just allow ourselves to learn from what we see, hear and think without having an opinion or forming a judgment. In this way we can live in calmness, tranquility, peace, happiness and wisdom.