Once upon a time, there was an elder Buddhist monk. One day, an old friend of his paid him a visit. At mealtime, there was only one dish of salted vegetable on the table. His friend could not help but ask, “Isn’t it too salty?”
The elder monk answered, “Salty, its taste should be.”
After the meal, the elder monk drank a cup of plain water. His friend asked again, “Don’t you have tea? Why do you drink that tasteless water?”
“Tasteless, its taste should be.” the elder monk smiled and answered.
What he said is indeed true. As the taste of salted vegetable should be salted and that of plain water should be tasteless, what we encounter in life should be the way they are. Since we can do nothing about it, all we can do is to enjoy what is destined by our fate.
Along the long road of life, we need to savor all kinds of tastes and experience various frames of mind. It is a great pity to miss even any one of them. Only in this way can we achieve great completeness.
Saltiness is about strong beliefs, intense emotions, severe pain, obsessive enthusiasm, bitter loneliness and crazed love…
Tastelessness is about relaxed freedom, admirable life, polite silence, attentive care, easy content, and great ordinariness…
With the difference between saltiness and tastelessness transcended, one can savor the good taste of salted vegetable and the true sweetness of plain water. This is the most ideal state of mind that every one of us should reach.
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