When a dog is fed by its owner, it thinks to itself: “This human feeds me every day and cares for my every need. It must be god.”
When a cat is fed by its owner, it thinks to itself: “This human feeds me every day and cares for my every need. I must be god.”
The following is a story from a school in Detroit, USA, many years ago. One day during class, the class lost a mouse that was needed for an experiment. The students looked desperately for the mouse, but no one could find it. The teacher then said: “Everyone be quiet, Stevie Morris will be able to find the mouse”.
The students replied: “That’s impossible, Morris will never find the mouse”. The reason being, Morris was blind.
The teacher said: “You’re right. But Morris, while not being able to see, has excellent hearing. He will be able to hear and find the mouse that you cannot see”.
Morris was extremely touched by this comment. He realised that his blindness was not just a disability, but also gave him a superior sense of hearing compared to others. Morris used his hearing to nurture his musical talent and became a successful singer-songwriter. This boy is Stevie Wonder.
Talent is not something grand. At first, it merely appears tiny, useless and infantile. Stevie Wonder only started off as a boy with good hearing; he was not born a genius singer-songwriter. To develop a talent into a real talent, two extra factors are needed. The first is a master, such as Stevie Wonder’s teacher, who can identify and nurture a child’s natural talent. The second is another talent that when combined with the master’s guidance, develops the talent into something great. This something is effort. Effort is a talent that everyone can have. Those who complain that they are talentless are simply people who have not yet put in the effort.
Han Suk-Bong is a famous writer from the Joseon Dynasty (Korea during 14th to 19th century), who was praised as “the master writer of the East” even in the Ming Dynasty (China during 14th to 17th century). His writing and calligraphy were partly thanks to his inborn talent, but also because of his intense training and practise throughout his life. There is a famous story regarding his training.
Han Suk-Bong practised calligraphy since a young age by himself, practising every day. The villagers all praised his talent and his mother sent him to a famous temple to study. After four years of studying, Han missed his mother so much that he sneaked out during the night and returned home. When he told his mother that he there was nothing more for him to learn, she told him to turn the lights off and said: “I will slice rice cakes while you write, then we will compare our skills”. After the two silently did their best work in the darkness, they turned the light on and it was evident that Han’s letters were all crooked and unsightly while his mother’s rice cakes were perfectly sliced in even thickness. Han deeply repented his arrogance and realised there was so much more to learn. His mother told him off and told him not to set foot in the house again until he could write perfectly even with his eyes closed, just as she could slice rice cakes perfectly. Thanks to his mother’s passion for his education, Han became one of the most well-known masters of calligraphy and literature in the Far East.
The best type of parent is one who identifies a child’s natural talents early on and helps them develop those skills. If the child becomes lost, loses their way or fall into the pit of arrogance believing they are the best, it is the parent’s duty to correct them. The moment you believe that there is nothing more to learn, you become a failure.
There once lived a Buddhist monk by the name of Great Master Wonhyo(원효대사) in the kingdom of Silla (during the Three Kingdoms period of Korea). At the age of 45, he set out to the country of Tang (modern day China) to further his understanding of Buddhism. During his travel, he decided to rest in front of a grave when night fell. In the middle of the night, he woke up feeling thirsty and searched for a drink. He found a bowl full of water in the complete darkness and drank it quickly to quench his thirst. He thought to himself “How lucky I am, to find a bowl of such sweet water.” and went back to sleep.
When morning came, he checked to see if there was still water in the bowl. He then realised that the bowl was actually a skull, and that the water was stagnant, putrid water that had collected in it. Realising that he drank the vile liquid from the skull, the monk started throwing up. But then, he realised that in the darkness, he drank from the skull with no problem, and even thought that the drink was sweet and refreshing. To quote:
Objects and rules are only born from the mind; a dead mind is no better than a skull. Buddha’s Three Commandments originate from the mind, everything is born from knowledge. What could I ask for more when I have a mind?
Thus, the Great Master Wonhyo understood the way of Ilche Yushimjo (일체유심조/一切唯心造/“The mind is the origin of everything” – the key principle of Hwaumgyung, an important Buddhist text). He turned back and returned to Silla, where he devoted his life to spreading Buddhism to the people.
Any sadness or frustration can be dissipated if you look back on it. Depending on how you see the world, it can be either beautiful or tragic.
