The Staff and the Sun

In the late afternoon, in a small meditation center resting quietly on the mountainside, the golden light of the day's end slipped through the leaves and fell upon a courtyard of white gravel. An old meditation master, his brown robe worn thin at the shoulders, sat before his hut, holding a short bamboo staff. Before him, a young disciple who had spent many years searching for teachers and the way knelt with eyes full of longing.

That disciple had wandered across many lands and sat at the feet of many masters, yet his heart was still not at peace. He had asked about the meaning of "Buddha," about "the intention of the founding masters who came from India," but the answers he received were only dry scriptures and long-winded lectures. He yearned for something more real, something that would touch the very depths of enlightenment.

Today, he knelt before this meditation master, his heart full of hope. He spoke, his voice trembling with anticipation:

— Venerable teacher, what is the Buddha? Or what is the intention of the founding masters?

The meditation master did not answer at once. He gazed into the distance, where pink clouds drifted slowly by. Then, quite suddenly, he raised the bamboo staff in his hand and gently reached it toward the sky, as though reaching for something very far away. He said, in a deep and even voice:

— Take this staff and reach for the sun and the moon.

The disciple was stunned. He looked at the short staff in his teacher's hand, then up at the vast sky. The sun had already set behind the mountains, and the moon had not yet risen. He did not understand. It was an answer that had nothing to do with the question. He thought to himself: "Is the teacher joking? Or is he testing me?"

But then he looked more closely into the meditation master's eyes. Those eyes were perfectly clear, without a trace of doubt, without a hint of playfulness. He suddenly realized: the teacher was not joking. The teacher was speaking of a realm he had never reached. In the teacher's mind/heart, the stars, the heavens and the earth were no longer distant things out there, but rested entirely within reach, within the reach of consciousness. The short staff could touch the sun, because for the teacher, there was no longer any distance at all.

Tears rolled down the disciple's cheeks. He bowed his head, prostrated three times before his teacher, and quietly withdrew. From that day on, he no longer asked great questions. He simply sat in stillness, settled his mind/heart, and made this vow: "One day, may I also see as my teacher sees."

## The Meaning of the Story

This story reveals the realm of consciousness when it becomes pure: the mind/heart encompasses the entire solar system, so that meditation masters see the stars and the heavens within arm's reach. But this is not yet the ultimate. Without the Buddha's teachings (Dharma) to guide us, one can easily mistake this for nirvana. The lesson is this: do not rush to believe you have realized the Way when you have only reached the realm of consciousness. Always remain humble and reverent toward the Buddha in order to go beyond.

Compiled from a dharma talk by Venerable Thích Chân Quang