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There was once a poor old granny whose only possession was a woollen blanket. One day, upon seeing that the sun had come out, the old granny quickly took out her blanket to sun it as such fine weather did not come by often. Fearing that her blanket would be stolen, she took along a chair so that she could sit close by and keep watch on it.
A thief wanted to get his hands on the blanket but could find no opportunity to do so as the old granny was guarding it closely. So, he thought of a plan, and then walked up to the old granny and told her, "Granny, please be extra careful with your belongings. Nowadays thieves are very cunning; they steal from others and even want those that they steal from to thank them."
The old granny replied: "How is that possible when I’m always here to guard my blanket? Even if a thief could have stolen it, I would have been too angry to apologise to him. "
The thief elaborated, "If you don’t believe me, I can show you how it can be done. Now as you are keeping watch over your blanket, I will play the role of a thief. When the thief comes up to you, he will pretend to engage you in conversation and tell you, ‘Old granny, the sunlight is not strong enough where you’re sitting; I’ll help you to move your blanket to a brighter spot and at the same time, I will help beat the dust from it with a stick.’ Now, granny, what would you say to me?"
The old granny replied: "Thank you very much." As she continued to bow and thank him, the thief picked up the blanket and swaggered off, never to return.
There is a Chinese saying that goes: “The crooked have the intelligence of a scholar.” The thief in the story used his cleverness to steal the blanket. Though he was a clever man, he had used his mental abilities in the wrong manner. Such is “unwholesome intelligence”.
In fact, “great wisdom” is inherent in everyone. Some people can manifest such wisdom outwardly, but for those with heavy negative karma, it lies deeply hidden. Having learned the Dharma, we must develop pure and wholesome wisdom, then we will be able to use our intelligence to benefit people. With wisdom, we can discern events and things, and also come to realize the ultimate Truth, which is transcendent.
Extracted from Master Cheng Yen’s commentary on the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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