Adaptation Of A Zen Tale 1

A Zen master and his young pupil were out for the day, scavenging and gathering herbs for food. The boy set off on his own, while the elder waited by their transportation, a small boat.

The boy collected a few herbs, but soon found himself distracted by the fish swimming in a nearby pond. He studied them for a moment, transfixed, nearly hypnotised by their random movements. Suddenly, he was struck with an idea. He took a few paces back from the edge of the water, and tossed a stone into the water, at a fish who seemed to be swimming slower than the others. He successfully knocked the fish temporarily immobile, and proceeded to remove him from his home to fasten a piece of string to the creature's body, at the end of which, he tied a small rock. When the fish was replaced, it could hardly move due to the new added weight. The boy stood there, watching, and laughed at the small creature's struggle. The Zen master had heard the boy's laughter, and snuck up behind him, just in time to see what he had done. The older man watched closely, but remained undetected.

Moving on through the water, he saw a frog, hopping swiftly from rock to rock. Again, the boy successfully caught the creature, wrapped another piece of string around its middle, and tied a slightly larger stone to the end. The frog struggled slightly, but paddled helplessly in the shallow water, its gills gasping for air. The boy still enjoyed his sense of power over the small creature and laughed again. Silently watching from a nearby bush, the Zen master shook his head disapprovingly.

Finally, as he moved away from the pond to continue collecting herbs, he found a small thin garden snake, slithering through the short summer grass. Again, the boy picked it up carefully, and tied a piece of string around its neck, fastening the other end around a fairly large rock. The snake began to slip away, but was halted when the rock snagged on a branch. Again, the boy laughed, and again, the zen master looked on, without the boy's knowledge.

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That night, as the child lay sleeping, the zen master found some rope, and a large stone, about the size of a loaf of bread, which he tied securely to the student's back. When the boy awoke, he found himself quite uncomfortable, and went to his master.

"Master, there is a large stone on my back." He complained.

"Does it make you uncomfortable?" Asked the Zen master, calmly.

"Yes, I can't walk." The boy spoke, again.

"Well then..." Proposed the master, "How do you think the fish felt? And the frog? And the snake?" He looked to his student, who had no answer, and looked at the ground, shamefully.

"Go and find the animals and set them free. If they are all alive, I shall remove the stone from your back. But if any of them have died... you will carry the stone in your heart, forever."

The boy set off through the forest, once more, the stone still attached to his back and inhibiting his movement. At the bottom of the pond was the dead fish, still attached to the rock. The boy picked up the creature and held it as tears lined his eyes, before he walked to a patch of dry land, dug a shallow grave, and buried it.

The frog was still floundering in the water, so he wandered over, plucked him up, and untied him, and the frog happily hopped away.

When the boy climbed up to search for the snake, he found a gruesome sight. The side of a large rock had been splattered in blood, and the snake lay, dead, still attached to his stone, and coiled up, defeated. The boy picked up the snake and held it as he wept openly. The teacher watched with sad eyes, silently. For he knew what he had done.