Watching the Tree to Catch a Hare(áúñ»Óâ÷Í)

                                   Written by Adeline Yen Mah

From : 5. Look Inwards for Salvation(üÞÔéãÀäÍ)

When I was thirteen years old, I developed pneumonia. After
my discharge from hospital, my stepmother allowed me to go
home for a few days to recuperate before returning to boarding
school. One afternoon while she was out, Grandfather took me
to a Chinese teashop for tea and dim sum.
  It was an old-fashioned establishment with square, red-wood
tables and quaint round stools, whirring overhead fans and
latticed windows. Like prisoners granted a few hour's reprieve,
the two of us stuffed ourselves with dumplings, noodles, pots
of fragrant jasmine tea and delicious, milky soya bean soup
blended with grated Chinese broccoli.
  Towards the end of the meal, as I raised the last spoonful
of steaming soup to my lips, I gave a scream of horro, Lying 
at the bottom of the large soup bowl was the distinct, brown
shape of a dead cockroach. As of that moment, the thought of 
having drunk the soup became unbearable. Pointing to the
insect, I turned to Ye Ye. To my amazements, he went on calmly
drinking his soup, spoonful by spoonful.
 'I feel sick to my stomach!' I cried, adding irritably, 'How
can you go on drinking that soup?! Can't you see the cockroach?
You're going to be poisoned!' 
 'How can I miss seeing the cockroach when you are raising
such a ruckus?' he replied. 'But this soup is piping hot and that
insect looks as if it's been stewed for a while. You yourself were
just saying how tasty the soup is. Nothing has changed. Why
shouldn't I go on enjoying it?'
 'But everything has changed!' I told him. 'You didn't know 
there was a cockroach un the soup before. Now you know! So
how can you continue drinking?'
  My grandfather put his spoon down beside his empty bowl
and said patiently, 'Before you saw the cockroach, you loved
the soup. As soon as you became aware of the insect, you
loathed the soup instead. Yet the soup has not changed. It is
only your perception of it that has altered. Knowledge of the
cockroach's presence transformed your attitude radically.
 'The older I get, the more I appreciate the importance of
attitude on our understanding and enjoyment of life. From time
to time, bad things happen to all of us. We can't change that.
However, we certainly can control our attitude in dealing with
life's misfortunes.
 'You see a dead cockroach and suddenly you think you've 
been poisoned; even though the soup was delicious and the
cockroach has obviously been boiled to death. How do you
know it wasn't a special ingredient added by the chef to enhance
the soup's flavour?'
 'You are always challenging me about my Buddhist beliefs
and asking for proof. But proof is all around us. Look at the
perfection of these flowers on our table! As our great philosopher
Wang Pi(AD 266~249) wrote, "Nature never errs. Things always follow
their principles. Though complex. they are never chaotic. Though
many, they are not confused." When you perceive the wondrous 
orderliness of nature, you know very well it could not have
happend randomly.
 'To return to your soup, the truth was that it was hot and
delicious, The presence of the cockroach should not detract
from the fact. Just as the absence of miracles should not prejudice
you against Buddhism. In fact, this vert absence supports
my Buddhist beliefs. A miracle can only happen when Nature's
law are transcended. According to Buddhism, this is an 
impossibility because the tao is true and eternal.
 'Remember: for you to become enlightened, the tranformation
has to come from within you yourself.'