My Very first post! The Coal Basket

This is a story of one of my friends. For the purpose of this article let’s call him Tom. When Tom was in his young years, still at grammar school, he used to spend his summer holidays with his grandfather in the mountains. His grandfather was practicing Buddhism and was actually considered somewhat of an expert on spiritual issues.

Little Tom noticed that every morning at dawn, grandpa spent about an hour reading Buddhist scriptures and texts and then another hour meditating. This is something Tom didn’t know from home and his curiosity grew.

Finally one morning he got up same time as his grandpa. He grabbed one of the texts from the library and started reading. His grandpa was a bit surprised but didn’t object. They spent the morning together in silence, reading texts and meditating.

The silence wasn’t broken until early afternoon when Tom asked “Grandpa, I don’t understand one thing. I tried to read your text this morning but didn’t understand much. And what I did understand, I forgot as soon as I returned the text to the library. What is that good for?”

Grandpa, who was just putting coal into the stove, stopped what he was doing. For a few moments he was just looking at Tom, not saying a word. Then he emptied one of the baskets of coal and handed it over to Tom saying “Take this basket down to the river, fill it with water and bring it back to me.”

Tom, who expected a straight answer, was a bit hesitant. However he did as he was told. He ran down to the river, filled the basket with water and ran back to the house. As he entered the living room, where his grandpa was waiting for him, he noticed that all water have leaked out from the basket.

Grandpa looked at him “Well, guess that you didn’t run fast enough...”

Tom wanted to prove himself so he ran to the river a second time and this time he ran back even faster. However even this time all the water leaked out before he even reached the door. Tom argued that it’s not possible to carry water in a basket. He offered that he will take the bucket next time.

Grandpa replied "I want a basket of water and not a bucket. You will have to try even harder." He then went out to the terrace to watch him run for water for the third time.

Tom already knew that it’s not possible to fill the basket with water. It simply leaks out right after you fill it. But he decided to go a final time just to prove to his grandpa that it is impossible.

He jogged down to the river, filled the basket and ran back as fast as he could. When he reached the terrace, the basket was of course empty. “See grandpa...” Tom said. “It’s simply not possible to fill the basket with water!”

"So you think it was just a waste of time?" The old man asked. Tom nodded.

"Well then...take a look at the basket." Grandpa replied.

Tom looked down at the basket with suspicion. For the first time he realized that he wasn’t holding the same old and dirty basket his grandpa handed to him. All the dirt and coal has been washed away and the basket now looked new and clean.

"Tom, that is what happens when you read the scripts. You might not understand or remember everything. But when you read them, you will be changed inside and out. That is the work of Buddha in our lives."

Until next time…
image source: The Coal Basket