看圖片

上一頁         下一頁

<< >>

MANYU THE CURIOUS LITTLE MONK

Manyu was a very quick-witted little novice among his little fellow monks. Their teacher had a most peculiar practice. He would enter his room with the door locked. He would then bow three times to a wooden box kept on a shelf. Then, he would take something out and rub it with his hand. After that, the master would at times chant some verses and sometimes he would murmur, as if to talk to himself or with a very close friend. At times, he might hold the mysterious thing for a long while without doing anything. After that, he would bow three times and put the object back in its place on the shelf.

All the little novices were very curious to know what was inside the wooden box. So, they sometimes tried to see through the key hole or through the window. They could not see anything very clearly. Each time they asked their master about the object, the master tried to protect it. He told them not to touch it without his permission. They all wondered what it was.

One day, the master went out on some business. They could not resist the temptation to steal a look at this mysterious thing. They went into the master’s room and opened the box. There, they found something wrapped neatly with a piece of cloth. They unwrapped the piece of cloth and what they saw was nothing but an ordinary monk’s bowl. It was used, as they could tell from the chipped places. There was also a note together with the bowl. From the note, one could tell that the bowl belonged to their teacher’s teacher. As they were wondering why their master gave so much devotional respect to this simple plain bowl; the bowl slipped from their hands and was broken. Every one was scared and did not know what to do. They looked at each other (with large frightened eyes. Not knowing what to do, they finally turned to Manju for his quick wit to solve the difficult situation. Manju thought for a moment, then finally promised to solve the problem on the condition that they would give their share of manju to him whenever manju was offered in the morning as breakfast. (Manju is a kind of Japanese baked desert. This is how he came to be called Manju.)

In the evening, their teacher came back, but Manju was not playing outside as he usually did. Instead, he sat in the meditation hall. He sat and sat without any movement. The master noticed something unusual and went over to see what was going on.

The Master asked him, “What are you doing?” thinking there must be something wrong with this quick and wise young novice. Manju answered, “This morning the thought occurred to me that you are alwaysteaching us that all formations are impermanent. But I was thinking maybe this is not so. Maybe I can find an exception by meditating. So, this is the reason I have been meditating.” “Well, have you found any exceptions?” the Master asked. “No, not yet Manju replied. But, I am pretty sure there must besome exceptions, at least one. Are you sure that all formationsare impermanent?” asked Manju. “Oh, yes, I am absolutely sure. All formations are impermanent,” answered the Master. “Really sure? All formations are impermanent with no exception?” asked Manju again. “Yes, I am absolutely sure. No exceptions!” answered the Master without hesitation. Then, Manju took out the wooden box and told his Master, “Here comes the impermanence of your bowl.” He then showed the broken bowl to the Master.

As the Master gazed down at the broken bowl on the floor, the memory of his own teacher came back to him. His teacher had taught impermanence with loving-kindness and patience when the Master was a young novice. So, he said softly, “You are right. The bowl is impermanent indeed! Put it back on the shelf!”

Hearing this, Manju was happy, and he wrapped the broken bowl with the piece of cloth, put the broken bowl back in wooden box quickly, and made a bow to this teacher. As he was turning to leave, his teacher said,

“Oh, Manju! I almost forgot to tell you one thing. Since everything is impermanent you have to be mindflul taking care of what you have!”

Manju, with his hands joined, bowed and left. He thought about what his teacher told him for a long time. Finally, he said to his brother monks, “I have enough manju now. You may keep your share of manju and do not need to give your share to me!” Every body was very happy, and Manju was very happy too.