In the Monastery, all the monks are given pencils, pens, ink and notebooks for their ideas, thoughts, notes and learnings.
This morning after lotus meditation, Sensei surprised everyone. He said, “Monks, please return to me all the pen ink and pencil lead that the Monastery has given you. I am waiting here. Please bring them back to me.”
The monks were disoriented. They had thrown away the pencil stubs and misplaced many of their pens. They had no clue what to do. By the time they turned to Head Monk for help, he was no longer there.
After thirty minutes, Sensei opened the main hall doors and all the monks quietly filled in. They had brought along with them whatever they could find. Honest Monk went up to Sensei and gave him a bag that had three pens and one small pencil.
Truthful Monk placed his ink pen and ink bottle in front of Sensei.
Angry Monk brought nothing.
Oversmart Monk had fled to the market to buy new pens and pencils.
The rest of the monks looked crestfallen and confused.
All of a sudden, there was a sound of wheels and everyone looked at the door. Head Monk was wheeling in a luggage cart with all his notebooks. Once Head Monk came near Sensei, he began placing his notebooks one by one in front of him. After finishing, Head Monk bowed gently and told Sensei, “All the ink and the lead that the Monastery gave me are in these notebooks. I humbly return them to you, my dear Sensei.”
Sensei picked up a few notebooks and looked through them. He smiled. He went through some more and seemed satisfied with what he had read.
Then Sensei gathered everyone and said, “In this life, you are like a pen, filled with the ink of action. How you spend that ink depends on your karma. Don’t squander it. Do good, help others and write a life story that will shine when you are asked one day, what did you do with your life-ink?”
*****
