Last evening, Sensei accompanied by Head Monk and the Monastery Monks were strolling around the riverbank that flowed below the Monastery. At a certain spot on the riverbank, the monks smelled a strong, beautiful fragrance that didn’t seem to have an origin. When the monks moved away from the spot, the fragrance disappeared; when they stepped back into it, the fragrance reappeared and was quite overpowering. The monks asked Head Monk to explain the phenomenon, if he could.
Head Monk smiled and related this story:
“A few years ago, a very powerful priest visited this town. He came disguised and unannounced. The priest was highly evolved. He had practiced a rigorous fire meditation for fifty long years and was blessed with the ability to make Gods appear when he lit his special fire on riverbanks. The priest was also known to be an extremely angry and impatient person.
Once he reached town, the priest walked into the market in search of material for his special fire. After buying sandalwood, bricks and oils, the priest approached two large shops that were famous for selling incense sticks and matchboxes.
The owners of the two shops were brothers who constantly fought with each other. For the past twenty years, they would argue about whose business was more important. The matchbox seller would say that nothing was possible without his matches; the incense seller would insist that incense sticks lasted much longer than silly matches and had an important utility, compared to that of matches.
When the priest arrived at the shops, the brothers were screaming at each other.
The priest looked at the incense seller and said, “Give me a hundred boxes of your best incense sticks.”
The incense seller did not bother to acknowledge the Priest and kept on shouting at the matchbox seller.
The priest asked the matchbox seller for a hundred matchboxes. The shopkeeper gestured him to go away.
The priest repeated his request twice. At his third request, the incense seller screamed at him and said, “Get lost you old fool. Don’t you hear our arguments? I sell incense, the very material that makes you practice your craft. You and this stupid matchbox seller have to respect me first before I even listen to you.”
The priest left the market and went to the riverbank where he chose a spot for his practice. Once seated, he immediately went into a meditative trance and began his fire meditation.
In the market, just around that time, a large fire broke out in the incense and matchbox shops. Even before the brothers could react, the matchboxes and the incense sticks had caught fire. The flames spiralled out of control and in a few minutes, a large unstoppable raging fire began burning the two shops down. It was noticed that unlike the smell of burning material, the sweet fragrance of incense sticks enveloped the air. The entire town was perfumed with a sweet scent that reached as far as the riverbanks where the priest was practicing his meditation.
The brothers were shattered and realized their blunder. After their shop fires were put out and they had calmed down, the brothers went to the riverbank to find the priest. He was not to be found. The brothers did come across the same spot we walked across today, where the strong perfume smell of incense sticks still lingers.”
Sensei clapped once and said, “You have to learn that what you do in life is not about being large or small. It’s about being meaningful. And when you destroy or deny its meaning; then it’s possible that your work may in turn, destroy you.”
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