Watching Drama
From IKTWiki
Once upon a time, there were three people who went to watch drama together. One of them was far-sighted, another one had a hearing problem, and the other had a twisted head.
After the show, they were judging the drama.
“Today’s show had great singers, but the costume design was poor,” said the person who had farsightedness.
“The costume was perfect, but the sound was too low,” said the person who had hearing problem.
“The sound was loud and the costume was fine. Everything was great, but the performance stage was lopsided,” said the person who had twisted head.
From the story above, most people do not admit their shortcomings. It’s because the person, who had farsightedness, cannot see things in clarity, but complains about the costume; the one, who had hearing problem, cannot hear things clearly, but complains about the music; the one, who doesn’t admit his twisted head, but complains about the performance stage.
This story also highlights what’s ego and what’s biased. In general, most people are self-centered, distinguishing oneself from the other, and making clear distinguish between oneself and the other (e.g. this is mine and that is yours. I am right and you are wrong).
According to statistics, the vocabulary most often used in our daily communication is either “I” or “me”. Aren't conflicts among human and disputes among nations, the results of over-emphasizing one's opinion?
Therefore, as mentioned in Buddhism: “one must relinquish the idea of one-self, the idea of one being, the idea of living beings, and the idea of life," and also in Confucianism: “one must have no purpose, no must, no reason, and no one-self”. They are all meant to teach people one shall relinquish oneself from self-centered and ego.
Spiritual Words from the Living Buddha Chi-Gong (活佛師尊)
If a house has no window, fresh air cannot come in; although sun is bright and shining outside, the house is always dark inside.
If one cannot correct one's mistakes and abandon evil, one won’t be able to accept sincere advice and the reality of truth given by others. Thus there would be no bright behavior (great virtue), so does one's life become dull, idle and hopeless.
Therefore,
One who is willing to relinquish oneself from ego can work well with others; one who does not stand on his own position can take other’s advice.
看 戲
﹝小品文﹞
以前有三個人一同去看戲。其中一個是老花眼，一個是重聽，一個是歪頭。
看完戲後，他們共同批評所看的戲。
「今天的戲，唱得很好，可是行頭差些。」老花眼說。
「行頭很好，不過唱得聲音太小。」重聽的說。
「聲音很大，行頭也不錯，什麼都好，只是戲台搭歪了。」歪頭的人說。
由上面的故事看來，可見人人大都不肯承認自己的短處。老花眼自己看不清楚東西，反面說戲班行頭不好；重聽者不承認自己聽不清楚，反說唱戲的聲音太小；歪頭的也不承認自己的頭歪了，反說戲台搭歪了。
這個故事亦說明了什麼是我見、偏見。通常一般人大都以自我為中心，分別你我，這是我的，那是你的，我是對的，你是錯的，將你我的界限分得很清楚。
根據統計，在平日言詞中，用得最多的文字就是「我」字。而人與人，國與國之間的紛爭，又何嘗不是我見所產生的？
故佛家之「無我相、人相、眾生相、壽者相」，儒家之「毋意、毋必、毋故、毋我」，皆是教人要破除我見。
活佛師尊慈示
一閒房子如果沒有窗戶，不能流進新鮮的空氣，照進和煦的陽光，永遠是黑暗。
一個人如果不肯改過向善，是無法接受別人的忠告與真理的啟示，那麼就沒有光明的行為，生命亦將呆滯無望。
所以－－
先去私心而後可以共公事，先平己見而後可以聽人言。
Source
修道故事小品集(一) / 出版者: 圓晟工作室 / 編撰: 潘添財 / 出版地: 台北巿
San Der Bookstore, Distibutor of Religious & Philosophy Books, 2F No 6, Lan 102, Shih Ta-Road, Taipei, Taiwan, 10715, R.O.C. 1995
