Samurai vs Monk

By: Ajahn Brahm

Translated By: Admin

One day, a samurai knight was wondering whether there is a heaven and a hell. Hence, he met a famous monk in his village hoping to get the satisfying answer. He asked, “Venerable Monk, I am coming here to ask you a question. You obviously are a wise and honest man, thus, if you don’t know the exact answer, please say don’t know. In nitty-gritty, please be honest. Do not compose your own answer, I can recognize the lying face easily. My question is: Is there a heaven and a hell?”

The monk answered curtly, “You are too silly to know the answer !” He insult the knight! As we know that samurai knight is the chosen knight, they are not silly, they are brilliant and smart, they had been trained within intensive trainings. Obviously the samurai has been offended by the monk words.

The samurai knight then replied, “Venerable Monk, I am not silly. Just answer the question, if you don’t know, just say “I don’t know” !”

“Listen to me! I feel sluggish to answer a question from a goon like you! Get out!” This monk called the prestigious knight as a goon.

This knight suddenly put on his hand on his samurai and said, “Watch your mouth, monk ! This sword is so keen that can cut through your meat and cut down your head in only one move !”

The monk said again, “That rusty metal? You even can’t cut a piece of cake by that corrosion samurai !”

That words really hurt that knight. He can’t help it anymore. He take out his samurai and exactly slash it to the monk neck. The monk suddenly shout and stare at the knight, “That is the HELL ! When you are filled with anger, when your mental is down, when you feel disappointed and offended, that is the HELL !”

Frankly, the samurai knight was understand the monk’s meaning. The knight suddenly said, “Finally… I have met the wisest person who can give me a proof, not just telling a tale.” That is not an answer which needs a further ado, the monk make the knight reveal the answer himself. The monk didn’t say that the answer is written on the scripture, but he taught the samurai knight directly. Isn’t it brilliant? Teaching a person NOT to their MIND, but to their HEART.

The samurai knight kneel-down immediately, with tears dropping from his eyes, “You are such an incredible monk. Thank you, Master !”

The monk stare at him while smiling and said, “That is HEAVEN ! The HEAVEN is happening in your current feeling now. Please keep it in your heart, do not let it go. Because that is your HEAVEN !”

My friends, we can actually understand either the heaven and the hell in our own life as well, that is a temporary feeling only and we tend to undergoing through these two conditions again and again, sometimes we just not realize it…

Posted in: Ajahn Brahm's Secret,Articles