peering out to look at the monks with fear in its eyes. Seeing
the calf run up to her, the cow quickly turned her head to look
in the direction of the monks, then remained impassive, as ani-
mals do when they are accustomed to seeing monks daily. But the
calf remained under her chin, staring out distrustfully. Observing
them, Ãcariya Mun commented in a general way about the differ-
ence between the reaction of the calf and that of its mother.
“That cow is quite unperturbed, but its calf is so frightened
it looks like it wants to pick her up and flee.^14 As soon as
it got a glimpse of us, it ran bawling to its mother for help.
People are just the same – they rush to find a reliable refuge.
If they are near their mother, they will run to her. If they
are near their father, they will rush to him. People invari-
ably lean on family and friends for support. Rarely do they
think about relying on themselves. When we are young, we
expect to rely on other people in one way; when we grow
up, we expect to rely on them in another way; and when we
grow old, we still expect to rely on others in yet a different
way. Very few of us turn inward, looking for support within
ourselves. By constantly looking for someone else to lean
on, we tend to foster our own weakness and so never allow
ourselves to become truly self-reliant.“We monks are the same as lay people. Having ordained, we
become lazy about studying. Worrying that it will be pain-
ful and difficult, we become lazy about practicing the way.
We never seem to finish what we start, for no sooner do we
have a good idea and begin to put it into practice than lazi-