The stupidest monk

Share your stories and poems with us here.
Post Reply
Nils
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu May 19, 2022 12:33 pm

The stupidest monk

Post by Nils »

Once upon a time there were two brothers. They lived in India at the time of Buddha. When they met Buddha one fine day, they were immediately enthusiastic and joined the monastic order. So far so good. But the brothers were very different. One was very smart and was well respected by his fellow monks. The other brother was very stupid. He could neither read nor write. If someone told him something, he immediately forgot it. The many clever teachings of Buddha were a mystery to him. He could not understand the meaning behind them. He seemed out of place in the order. The monks could not really do anything with him.

So one day he was sitting sadly in his place in the orange grove when Buddha came by. Buddha took pity on the dumbest of his monks. He thought about how he could help him advance spiritually. Buddha gave the stupid monk a simple task. He had to sweep the square and clean the monks' shoes every day from morning to night. While doing this, the monk has to say the mantra, "Remove the dust. Remove the dirt." This mantra the monk could just remember.

So, day in and day out, he began sweeping the square with a broom and cleaning the monks' shoes. He practiced this for nine months. Then he began to think about his mantra. He wondered whether Buddha meant the outer dust by the mantra or the inner impurity in his mind. He concluded that the inner purity was more important than the outer purity. So he focused primarily on the inner purity. When thoughts of attachment to worldly things came to him, he used his mantra against those thoughts. When he was dissatisfied with his life and disliked things that came into his life, he would speak his mantra and his mind would become clear.

One day Buddha came by again and confirmed the monk: "The dust is the attachment to worldly pleasures. A wise man makes his mind free from attachment to the world. The dirt is the anger, the rejection that often rises in the mind of an unwise person. A wise man accepts things as they are. A sage focuses on being enlightened and loving his fellow beings. A sage focuses on being a Buddha and behaving like a Buddha." At these words of Buddha, the mind of the stupid monk suddenly became free. He awoke into pure being in the here and now. Buddha instructed him to go out into the world and help all people who were as stupid as the monk. He could reach these people with his simple words and lead them into the light.
:twothumbsup:
User avatar
DNS
Site Admin
Posts: 5268
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 4:23 pm
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, Estados Unidos de América
Contact:

Re: The stupidest monk

Post by DNS »

:thumbsup:

Here is the reference from the Pali Canon:

https://tipitaka.fandom.com/wiki/Dhamma ... aka_Vatthu
Nils
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu May 19, 2022 12:33 pm

Re: The stupidest monk

Post by Nils »

DNS wrote: Tue May 24, 2022 3:47 pm :thumbsup:

Here is the reference from the Pali Canon:

https://tipitaka.fandom.com/wiki/Dhamma ... aka_Vatthu
Thanks for the tip. :twothumbsup: :good:
Miorita
Posts: 1069
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2022 11:37 pm
Location: US

Re: The stupidest monk

Post by Miorita »

Write more stories!

:anjali:
Miorita
Post Reply

Return to “Creative Writing”