Once upon a time, an old monk and a little monk lived in a temple high up on a solitary mountain. One day, the old monk thought that the little monk was old enough to leave the mountain to see and to understand the sufferings of the secular world.
The little monk had never left the temple since young. Before he left, he went to see the old monk.
"Master, i'll be leaving the mountain soon. Do you have any words of advice for me?" asked the little monk.
"Do not be afraid," the old monk said simply.
With that, the little monk left the mountain and began his journey.
Many years had passed and the little monk returned to the mountain after he had travelled far and wide. The first thing he did after he was back to the temple was to see the old monk.
"Master, i'm back. During all these years that i was out in the world, i've seen a lot and experienced a lot. Do you have any words of advice for me?"
"Do not regret," again, the old monk said simply... The end.
And the moral of the story: Old monk doesn't talk much.
Ok, seriously, the story is simple yet it tells us a lot about how to live our lives -- do not be afraid of the uncertainties in life and do not regret the past.
I had written my thoughts about it in my Chinese blog.
Labels: story
