“The One Who Breaks the Shell—The Parable of Exhaustion”
A training ground at dusk.
The light setting over the mountain edge bathed the veranda of the monastery in gold.
The Master sat quietly, palms resting on his knees. The disciples knelt before him, catching their breath in silence.
The Master then spoke.
“My disciples, if there is anyone who practices and attains the Seven Departments and Thirty-Seven Paths—
that person will naturally attain liberation of the mind, even without the desire to attain ‘exhaustion.'”
One of the disciples looked up.
His eyes held a glimmer of surprise and a longing for understanding.
“Master, why is liberation attainable even without the desire?”
The Master smiled and pointed to a chicken in a corner of the garden.
The chicken was quietly incubating its eggs in its nest.
“Look. The mother hen never speaks to the egg, nor does she command it to hatch.
She simply warms it quietly, occasionally cooling it. When the temperature is just right,
the chick will break out of its shell by itself.”
The master continued.
“The chick did not break out of its shell by willingness.
It was simply because the mother hen cared for it properly.
In the same way, if a practitioner practices correctly,
the shell of their mind will break even without their will, and liberation will appear.”
The master’s voice echoed along with the mountain wind.
“So what should we practice?”
The disciples held their breath.
The master counted quietly.
“They are called the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Four Right Attendance, Four Willingness-Achieving Achievements, Five Roots, Five Potentialities, Seven Enlightenments, and the Eightfold Path.
Those who practice these are already on the path to Buddhahood.”
Silence returned.
In the distance, the mother hen crowing softly.
A faint “tap” echoed from within the nest.
–The egg was beginning to crack.
The master narrowed his eyes and smiled.
“See?
This is the natural workings of training.
If you practice correctly, liberation will come without you even seeking it.
Just like the spring light melting snow.”
The disciples bowed their heads deeply.
In the twilight, a glowing wisp of smoke rose toward the edge of the mountain.
In the silence, the master’s words echoed endlessly.
Episode 2: Training in the Four Stages of Mindfulness — The Eyes of the Observer
The mountain held its breath before dawn.
Mist gently enveloped the valley, and the sound of bells rang out one by one.
The disciples gathered in the meditation hall and sat, their master’s words engraved in their hearts.
Among them was a young disciple named Shingen.
He was still a relatively new practitioner, and the words of his teacher yesterday — “If you practice correctly, liberation will naturally appear” — continued to shine quietly in the depths of his heart.
But at the same time, he had doubts.
“Even though I practice, why doesn’t anything change? Aren’t worldly desires still swirling inside me?”
The teacher sat in the center of the hall and looked around at his disciples.
“We will now practice the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
This is the first gate to observing the mind.”
The teacher’s voice was deep and quiet.
“Observing the body — this is the ‘foundation of mindfulness.’
Observe your breathing, observe your posture, and place your mind on each and every movement.
Do not observe that you are “moving,”
but simply that “there is movement.”
Shingen closed his eyes.
He inhaled and exhaled.
A wave-like sound filled the depths of his chest.
Suddenly, a pain in his leg stabbed his heart.
But then the teacher’s voice rang out again.
“Do not hate pain.
Observe the mind that names it ‘pain.’
Before you name it, feel what is there.”
Shingen’s consciousness was sinking into the pain.
But at one point, the pain no longer felt like “pain,”
but simply transformed into a collection of sensations like heat and vibrations.
At that moment, it felt as if something deep in his chest had “unraveled.”
The teacher’s voice continued.
“This is the ‘place of reflexivity’ — observing sensations.
Simply observe the three sensations: pleasure, pain, and detachment.
Do not think that ‘I’ am feeling them.
What you are feeling is simply happening.”
Morning light streamed in through the gap in the hall door,
illuminating Shingen’s cheek softly.
Next, the teacher said.
“The ‘contemplation of the mind’ – observe the mind itself.
If there is anger, observe the anger; if there is joy, observe the joy.
Reflect the mind as it is.
Do not judge or adjust the mind, simply observe.”
The anxiety of the previous day rose back in Shingen’s heart.
The impatience that he was still not enlightened.
But instead of pushing these thoughts aside, he simply observed.
The impatience blew away like the wind, and the next moment it was gone without a trace.
The teacher finally said:
“The ‘contemplation of the Dharma’ – observe all phenomena as law.
Birth and death are constant,
and everything that appears occurs due to conditions.
When you observe this, you will stand at the gate to ‘impermanence’.”
At that moment, the voice of a skylark reached Shingen’s mind.
He thought.
–The skylark and my breath both live only in this moment.
In this realization, everything melted into a single light.
The teacher quietly concluded his words.
“These are the four foundations of mindfulness.
When the ‘watcher’ leaves himself,
the true eyes are opened.”
Outside the hall, the morning sun pierced the mist on the mountains,
enveloping everything in golden light.
In that light,
Shingen understood for the first time the meaning of “seeing.”
