Carving Buddha
A traveler passed through a village and saw a monk hunched over a log, chisel in hand, tapping steadily. A face was emerging from the wood - serene, unmistakable.
“You’re carving a Buddha,” the traveler said.
The monk did not look up. Tap. Tap. “No.”
“But I can see the earlobes, the curls, the robe. It’s clearly a Buddha.”
The monk paused, brushed a curl of shaving from the wood, and said, “I’m not carving a Buddha. I’m just removing the wood that isn’t Buddha.”
The traveler stood still. A breeze scattered shavings around his feet. “Then what’s left to add?”
The monk smiled. “Nothing. That’s the point.”
Lesson: The path does not create what you are. It simply removes what you are not.
This newsletter is my only source of income. If you found some value in this post and would like to keep getting them daily, please consider: