Tenet of Zen

The first tenet of Zen Buddhism teaches a reverence for all life forms. A story is told of an aged Buddhist monk who was walking one day with a young disciple. The monk walked slowly along a dirt path and occasionally paused, stooped down, and swept aside the surface dirt on the path. The disciple observed this and queried his master.

“Why do you brush the path ahead of you?” he asked.

“My son,” the monk said, “I brush to remove the insects who might otherwise be crushed by my feet as I walk.”

The young man thought for a while.

“But master,” the young man replied, “there are so many bugs. You can’t possibly avoid them all. What you do really makes no difference.”

The monk bent over and pointed to a beetle, picked it up and set it out of the way, next to some ants that he had previously brushed aside.

“What I do makes a difference to this one” he said.
The young man understood and continued on his way with the monk in silence.
This variation of the old starfish tale provides some interesting thoughts to
consider. Sometimes we push issues and programs so hard that we unknowingly “crush” others who we didn’t observe that were in our way. A basic ideal of civic education is respect for others. How important it is for us to be aware of the desires, ambitions, and freedoms of others as we plan programs to educate our youth.

As a second point, our efforts to reach even one (and especially one) are always worthwhile. Sometimes we spend a great deal of time trying to affect a large population of students with a lesson plan, activity, program, or policy. What is more often needed is a more committed and concentrated effort to reach just one who is in great need. Any genealogist can readily tell you how many generations can be affected by one life. It doesn’t take but a few generations to produce a multitude.