Nandita Kochar
A Zen master was teaching the art of gardening to the king of Japan. After three years of continuous and rigorous teaching, he told the king that now he would come and see the palace garden in order to witness what the king had learned and implemented from the past three years. Happyho also provides best Meditation and Tarot classes in Noida and Delhi NCR India area
The king awaited the day with great joy. For these three years, he had instructed thousands of gardeners to maintain its beauty down to the last detail. And finally the time had come for all his diligence to pay off. It was the day before the master’s visit. Everyone had been toiling in the soil throughout the day and the night; there was simply no room for error.
The master arrived in the morning. He walked into the garden. The king looked around and couldn’t hide the glee on his face, the palace garden looked perfect. But the master looked sad, which was unusual for a man of laughter like himself.
As they moved further along the garden, the master grew more and more sad. The king begin to worry – Had he committed a great blunder? What was missing? With the master’s growing silence, everything seemed terrible. Finally the king asked, “What is the matter? I have never seen you so sad. I was hoping that you would be immensely proud of me.”
The master said, “Everything is right but where are the golden leaves? I don’t see any dead leaves, yellow leaves fluttering in the wind. Without that the garden looks dead; there is no song, no dance.”
The king had instructed all of his staff to remove the dead leaves, not only from the ground but also from the trees and the plants. He had forgotten what the master had told him once, that without these dead leaves, one would never learn how to appreciate the living ones. Death complimented life, it was required so that one could appreciate what was breathing. Without these golden leaves, the palace garden looked artificial like a painting.
The master took a bucket and went out of the garden, outside the gate to where all the leaves have been thrown. He collected the leaves in the bucket, came back and threw the leaves on the path. Suddenly the wind started blowing them here and there, and there was noise and there was music, and there was dance.
The master said, “Now there is life! The wind is golden again. “
