Deep in a forest of tall sal trees, where the only sounds were birdsong and
the trickle of a spring, an old sage had made his home in a clearing. For
many long years he had lived simply — sharing his food, speaking kindly,
harming no creature — and slowly, the way a stone in a river is worn smooth,
every rough and selfish thing in him had worn away. What remained was clear
and calm, like still water.
Travellers who passed through the forest told strange tales about him.
In the burning month before the rains, the heat lay over the woods like a
heavy blanket. Other people gasped and fanned themselves and hunted for
shade. The sage sat upright beneath his tree, eyes half-closed, as untroubled
as if a cool breeze were blowing. And when the winter nights came, so cold
that frost edged the leaves and the spring froze at its rim, the sage sat in
the very same place, the very same way — neither shivering nor complaining,
as steady in the cold as he had been in the heat.
One day a proud young prince rode through the clearing, hoping to be amused.
He praised the sage with sweet flattering words, calling him the greatest
holy man in all the land. The sage smiled gently and said nothing, his face
as peaceful as a pond. Annoyed, the prince changed his game and began to
mock him — calling him a lazy old fool, a beggar, a man who had wasted his
life. The sage smiled the very same gentle smile, his face as peaceful as
before. Praise and insult passed over him like two breezes over a mountain,
and the mountain did not move.
The prince climbed down from his horse, confused. "Heat does not burn you.
Cold does not freeze you. Praise does not puff you up and blame does not cast
you down. How?"
The sage opened his eyes. He pointed to a small oil lamp burning in the
doorway of his hut, deep inside where no wind could reach. The flame stood
tall and still, not flickering at all.
"When the wanting and the not-wanting have left the heart," he said quietly,
"it grows still like that. Then nothing from outside can shake it. And in
that stillness, with a steady vow, the heart can hold fast to the One."
The prince looked at the unwavering flame for a long, long time.
