Once upon a time, a man in a lousy mood poured a cup of tea and a glass of wine and put them together on the table. Looking at the tea and wine on the table, he hesitated to know which cup to drink to be good. He thought to himself: lousy mood when you should drink because drinking wine, a drunken solution to a thousand sorrows can be a deep sleep. But then thought: bad mood should drink tea because drinking tea makes people awake, can observe the ups and downs of emotions, make emotions clear, and worries will naturally dissipate.
When he was hesitant, he suddenly heard the tea on the table: “I am the king of all grass, the heart of all wood, of course, to drink me first.”
As soon as the tea finished, the wine immediately laughed: “It is ridiculous, from ancient times to the present, tea cheap wine expensive, the emperor drank wine, claiming to be long live; ministers drank wine, they are fearless. Even the gods who can determine the life and death of the sky, like the wine offerings, how can tea compare? Of course, drink me first!”
Tea laughed and said, “I am the tea grass, is the heart of all the wood, which is known to everyone, some white as jade, some yellow as gold. The world’s famous monks and great virtues also know that drinking me can go drowsy. I have always made offerings to Maitreya and consecrated Guanyin, and even the Buddhas have admired me for thousands and thousands of years. What about wine? It can only corrupt a family’s wealth and make a person lascivious. If you drink three glasses of it, you will be deeply sinful.”
Tea and wine, so you say, I say, quarrelsome, is challenging to separate when suddenly a clear voice spoke the original water: “You two do not have to fight here, and do not have to be here to slander each other. Life four, earth, water, fire and wind, water is the most important. Tea without water, what is it like? Wine without water, and what is it like? Rice and noodles eaten dry, damage the intestines and stomach; tea eaten dry, cut the throat. Therefore, I am the Lord of all things, the clan of grains. The river Huaiji, with me to pass; I can also float heaven and earth, can also dry up and kill fish and dragons; not to mention as the ancestor of tea and wine! From now on, neither of you need to compete for merit!”
The moral of this little story is profound. We often meet such people in life, they are not highly educated and cultivated enough, but they are always empty-eyed and flaunt their poor knowledge everywhere. Such people are shallow; they do not know the truth that there are people outside of people and heaven outside of heaven. We should be inspired by the fact that a good life is to have an open heart at all times and to have a pure world for ourselves no matter how the external world changes. The purity is not in the hustle and bustle, not in the competition with others, and not in a heart that wants too much, less a point of restlessness, more a moment of peace, the heart is naturally pure and carefree, and such a life, how beautiful and happy!
