The Eyes of a Sage

He sat in a sidewalk café, sipping an iced black coffee, his eyes wandering over the bustling street. His eyes were open, taking in life. Yet within his heart and mind, countless thoughts arose behind that gaze: love, hatred, understanding, misunderstanding.

He saw a young couple both looking toward a girl walking past. The husband's eyes brightened, and an indescribable smile spread across his face. The wife frowned and turned away, clearly thinking something entirely different. One single sight, yet two completely different thoughts.

Then he heard a baby crying loudly from a nearby eatery. He felt annoyed, for the cry was so grating on the ears. But then he remembered a story his teacher once told: there was a father who said, "When other people's children cry, I find it irritating, but when my own child cries, I find it adorable, and it doesn't bother me at all." He suddenly understood: hearing the same sound, people think differently because their standpoint, position, and relationship are all different.

He thought about animals. When humans look at a piece of raw meat, they feel fear and disgust at the bloody smell. But to a wolf, that same piece of meat is a paradise of dreams. Or consider what a baby "produces." Humans find it horrifying, while a dog finds it a treasure. If the difference between humans and animals is this great, how much greater must the difference be between ordinary beings and the sage?

When a sage looks at a problem, that single look unfolds into complete clarity, stretching from past lives to future lives. The sage sees cause and effect (karmic law), sees the deep interconnections among all things, and sees his own responsibility. But he, and so many people like him, could only see the surface, the instinct right before their eyes.

He suddenly felt a strange sense of humility. For so long, he had believed he was right, believing his way of seeing was objective. But in truth, it was only the view of an ordinary being, shaped by instinct, by position, and by self-interested relationships.

"Trusting your own thoughts a little less is already a step forward," his teacher's words echoed once more. He looked down at his empty coffee cup and felt lighter at heart. The path of practice is still long, but at least today he had realized something important: he needed to be more humble.

The Meaning of the Story

Each of us carries our own way of "seeing" the world, shaped by instinct, position, relationships, and our level of moral cultivation. Ordinary beings see through instinct, animals see through an even lower instinct, while the sage sees cause and effect (karmic law), responsibility, and the profound connection with all living beings. Recognizing this difference helps us cling less to our own views, grow in humility, and open our hearts to progress along the path of practice.

Compiled from a dharma talk by Senior Venerable Thích Chân Quang