The Holy Monk Who Was Always Dirty

In an ancient temple, beneath the rustling bodhi trees, there lived a young monk who was unlike anyone else. While his elder brothers in the Dharma always kept their bodies clean and their robes tidy, this junior monk lived in a strangely dirty way. His nose was always covered with grime, snot running down, and his clothes were ragged and disheveled. His elders found this irritating, and many times they scolded him:

"Junior brother, go take a bath. Look at yourself, you are so filthy!"

The junior monk calmly wiped his nose and replied:

"Yes, elder brother, but I have no time."

His elders shook their heads, thinking he was lazy. No one understood the deep meaning hidden in those words. In truth, his "no time" carried a subtle teaching: he was practicing diligently, moment by moment, never letting his mind rest in idle distraction, and so he had no time for worldly matters on the outside. But who could understand this?

One day, the king of the region had an elderly mother who fell gravely ill, and no treatment could cure her. The king prayed with sincere devotion, and in a dream, a dharma protector appeared and said:

"The Queen Mother's illness can only be cured if you invite the holy monk from that temple to come to the royal palace, to make offerings of a meal to the Sangha, and to give a dharma talk."

The king asked who the holy monk was, but the dharma protector did not answer. So the king went personally to the temple to search. He walked around the temple, looking at each monk, but he could not tell who the holy monk was, for everyone looked ordinary, even somewhat unattractive, with nothing special about them. Finally, the king decided to invite all the monks of the temple to the palace for the meal offering.

That day, the royal palace was resplendent with flags and flowers, and soldiers stood in neat rows at the gates to welcome the monks. The elder monks instructed their junior brother:

"Today you stay home and watch the temple. Do not come to the palace and disgrace our temple. Look at yourself, dirty and smelly. Following us would only bring shame!"

Hearing this, the junior monk cried out:

"Heavens, the king has invited the whole temple. How could I dare stay home and defy the royal command?"

And so he tagged along behind them. The elder monks walked ahead, occasionally glancing back. Whenever they saw him drawing near, they waved their hands to signal him to stay back, fearing his foul odor would bother everyone. In this way, monk after monk passed through the palace gates, while the king stood watching, his heart sinking as he saw no one who resembled a holy monk.

At last, it was the turn of the dirty junior monk, the last in line. Upon reaching the gate, he stopped, planted both hands on the ground, lifted his body up, planted a banana tree, and walked through the city gate on his two hands. Everyone standing there was astonished, not understanding what was happening. Once inside, he stood up, walked straight into the hall, knelt down, and bowed with his head to the ground.

Only then did the king speak and explain:

"This holy monk perceived a Buddhist sutra hidden deep beneath the earth at the city gate. No one else knew of it, and everyone walked right over it. Only this holy monk recognized it, and so he planted a banana tree there to avoid stepping on the sutra, as an expression of reverence for the Buddha's teachings (Dharma)."

At that moment, everyone finally understood. That dirty, disheveled junior monk, the one they had mocked and ridiculed, was in fact a holy being whose reverence for the Buddha and the Dharma was profoundly deep. As for them, they were clean and fragrant, but their reverence for the Dharma was meager indeed.

From this story, we understand that we should never judge others by their outward appearance. There are true practitioners, bodhisattvas who manifest in simple forms, even somewhat unkempt ones, yet their minds are utterly pure and filled with reverence for the Buddha's teachings (Dharma). Meanwhile, we often focus on outward appearances and forget the sincerity that comes from within.

The Meaning of the Story

This story reminds us that outward appearance does not reflect a person's true spiritual value. What matters most is a heart of sincere devotion, a reverence for the Buddha's teachings (Dharma) arising from the depths of one's being, not a clean or elegant appearance. Do not rush to judge others by their looks, and always keep reverence for the Buddha and the Dharma in your heart, in every circumstance.

Compiled from a dharma talk by Venerable Thích Chân Quang