Last evening, Mischief Monk asked Sensei if he could skip evening meditation and throw paper planes at Buddha instead!
Sensei was delighted by the request and gave him instant approval.
In the evening, as the monks passed the main hall, they saw Mischief Monk sitting at one end of the hall and making paper planes. He would whisper something into the plane and then throw the plane at Buddha, seated at the other end.
In the night, while returning back, no one could see what was happening in the main hall. The lights were on, but the curtains were all closed. The monks and Sensei passed by and went to bed.
This morning, when the monks and Sensei assembled in the main hall, they were shocked to find the entire floor of the hall covered by paper planes. Mischief Monk was lying down on the side, asleep. He had spent the entire night there!
After being woken up, Mischief Monk bowed to Sensei and said, “Sensei, I am sorry for the litter. I will clean it up. I thought I could make perfect paper planes and throw them accurately; so my idea was to wish for many things and use paper planes to deliver those wishes to Buddha. However, what happened last night was quite different.
After making a perfect plane and blowing my wish into it, no matter how hard I tried, it would never land near Buddha. Instead, the plane would turn back and land on the floor. I did this all night long. Then when I had one last paper left, I looked at Buddha, bowed to him and silently said, ‘Buddha, my only wish is that I make a perfect plane and make it land next to you.’ Then I made the plane and threw it. See where it is!”
The monks and Sensei looked up and saw a paper plane perfectly placed in Buddha’s lap!
Sensei clapped twice and said, “It takes many false wishes to understand what a real wish should be. And when that realisation happens, Buddha listens and makes that real wish come true.”
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