Tuesday, October 25, 2011
A Piece of Empty Paper

Long ago, there was a story about two blind people who lived together. One of them is an old man, the other as a youngster. They’d play piano to earn a living every day.

One day, the old man fell sick and he knew he couldn’t stay long. Thus, he told the young man “Hey kid, here’s a secret that’ll help you to be able to see the world again. I kept it inside this piano. But remember, you can only get the secret out after you’ve broken the 1000th string, or else you wouldn’t be able to see the lights again.”

The young man promised his teacher as his tears dropped. After a few moments, the old man passed away with a smile on his face.

Day by day, a few years passed by. The young man remembered what the teacher had told him. He continuously played the piano and kept all the broken strings.
Finally, he broke the 1000th string of the piano. By this time, that youngster had reached the age of an old man.
He then carefully took out a piece of paper from the piano. However, the people around him had to tell him the truth, that it was just a piece of empty paper…
Is it nothing more than a lie from the teacher?

This blind man instead, laughed when he found out it was just a piece of empty paper.
By the time he found out the paper was nothing secretive, he understood his teacher’s effort. There’s nothing on the paper, but it appears to be a wordless secret.
It is a secret that he’ll only understand after playing the piano and breaking the 1000th string.

It’s a secret that possesses the light of hope. In the total darkness, it was the teacher who lighted up a path for this man.
If it wasn’t for this piece of paper, that young man would have been engulfed this darkness.
He could persist on living his life all because of this little lantern lighted up by his beloved teacher.
He had hoped to see the world, and he believed in it. He believed that darkness wouldn’t stay forever if he isn’t giving up. When he overcomes the darkness, infinite light will be waiting for him ahead.



Thoughts:

When the old men was about to leave the world, he attentively left a ray of hope for the youngster and called it as a “secret”. Perhaps you’d wonder what kind of secret it was that’s so mystical to be able to heal a blinded eye. However, the youngster never thought of these questions. He never doubted his teacher nor had he doubted his ability to do what as told.

The youngster bore with his teacher’s teaching simple mindedly as he believed that one day, he could truly see the lights with the help of the secret. Thus, he would continue striving on with his life without a single regret or complaint, until he broke the 1000th string.

In the end, it was astonishing to find that the secret was nothing but an empty paper. Just because of this piece of paper, I believe the young man would have endured through all the challenges as he reminds himself of his teacher’s words. He must have thought that “The light is waiting for me ahead! I must reach to the 1000th string! Teacher’s secret would be revealed soon if I don’t give up!” Virtually, his teacher had encouraged him through all the problems with this ‘light’. And the ‘light’ brings hope and courage for the young man to keep on striving on his belief, to achieve his aim.

How about us? What’s our secret then? When we’re challenged by hardship, would we fall into darkness? Who’s there to light up a lantern of hope for us?

Certainly, it would be our beloved mentor, Ikeda Sensei. He taught us many philosophy of life, encouraging us when we’re down and helpless. I could still remember Ikeda Sensei saying ‘Don’t give up!’, ‘You must climb to the highest peak!’, ‘A true victor is the one who could overcome all sort of hardship!’, ‘You must construct a pyramid of victory in your life!’, all these encouragement and guidance motivated me to keep on striving forward.

Each string and chord represents the challenges. When we remember our mentor’s guidance and make good use of the ‘secret’, we could overcome any problem and achieve victory ahead! When you’re thinking of giving up, remind yourself again to keep on striving forward, and forward! Victory is just waiting for us ahead!

Let’s follow our mentor’s footsteps and have absolute faith in the power of Gohonzon. If we never give up in challenges, we could achieve victory as the young man’s done. Let’s strive forward and achieve a great ‘treasure of the heart’!

We are the ones who have the great mission of nurturing the future division. Let’s pass this great ‘secret’ to our children and guide them. Let’s be the ‘ray of hope’ in their lives!


Shared by,
Colours.

Translated by,
Happy.

Labels:

Written at 1:34 AM by Paper Pilot.