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There is a metaphorical story in a Buddhist sutra about a poor, lonely old man who lived in poverty and survived on logging. And the axe that he held in his hand had already been with him for decades.
One day, a merchant from a foreign land happened to see the axe held by the old man, and his eyes lit up the moment he noticed it. He was able to tell that the axe was not an ordinary object, but a very precious and expensive treasure. Unfortunately, the axe had been used by the old man for logging for a long time, and this had led to tremendous wear and tear on the tool.
Despite that, the merchant still asked the old man, "Hi, can you sell me the axe that you are holding in your hand?”
The old man said, "No! I’ve been relying on this axe for a living all my life. I need it for logging and cutting the wood to earn my livelihood.”
The merchant further requested, “What if I exchange it with a hundred pieces of brocade? Would that be okay with you?”
The merchant’s words made the old man feel very uncomfortable, as he thought that he was joking with him. So the old man simply ignored him.
But the merchant thought that the old man was not satisfied with his offer, so he made another offer: "Was my offer too little? How about 200 pieces of brocade?"
The old man replied to the merchant angrily: "I am currently very busy, and yet you keep pestering me and wasting my time. Stop joking with me!”
The merchant saw the unhappiness on the old man’s face and thought that what he had offered was not enough. So he quickly changed his offer and said, "How about 500 pieces?”
When the old man saw the serious attitude of the merchant, he began to believe that the axe in his hand was worth 500 pieces of precious cloth. A sense of sorrow suddenly welled up within him, and he started to cry very sadly.
The merchant thought that the old man could not bear parting with his axe and so, he comforted him: "Old man, don't cry anymore. If this is not enough, I will increase it to a thousand pieces!"
The old man chokingly said, "It’s too much! What you have offered is too much! I’m crying because I didn't know that I was in possession of such a precious treasure in all these decades. I even used it to do logging and cut the wood, and this has caused a lot of wear and tear to the precious treasure. If I knew it earlier that the axe was a treasure, I would have certainly protected it from the slightest damage, and it would not be worth only a thousand pieces of brocade. It might even be exchanged for two or three thousand pieces of brocade, or it could even be a priceless treasure! Then, I would be a very rich man. I am crying because of my ignorance!"
After finished telling this story, the Buddha said to his disciples, “Do you know that this story is telling us that everyone has a rich store of wisdom within them? But we have been using this precious wisdom on meaningless things in life and (wasting our life in pursuit of selfish wants and desires). Our life in this world only lasts for a few decades, but people keep wasting their time and life in this way. Isn’t that a pity?”
Extracted from Tzu Chi Taiwan website
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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