began cracking like a whip as it rained down blows all around me,
brushing past and narrowly missing me time and again until finally
the whip lashed into the very core of my being. I became flushed
as my body shook uncontrollably. The more my fear mounted, the
more agitated I became until all traces of contentment vanished
from my heart. While I sat there, his voice kept whipping and
lashing at my heart, his words hitting home time and time again
until by the end of his talk I could no longer bear the pressure.
My heart gave in to him, thinking: I thought as I did simply because
I wanted to know if you could truly read other people’s thoughts. I
had no intention of disparaging your other virtuous qualities. I now
acknowledge that you are a true master in every respect, so I wish to
entrust my life to you until the day I die. Please have compassion for
me and assist me with your teaching. Please don’t become fed up with
me because of this one incident.
Once my heart completely surrendered to him, the fiery
tone in his voice began to subside. Finally he concluded by eluci-
dating a basic principle.
“Right and wrong both exist within yourself. Why don’t
you take an interest in looking there? What’s the point in
meddling in the rights and wrongs of others? Is this the
type of thinking that will make you a good, skillful person?
Even though you may find out how good or skillful some-
one else is, if you yourself are neither good nor skillful,
then you will never be successful. If you want to know how
good other people are, first you must thoroughly exam-
ine yourself; then, knowledge about others will come on
its own. There is no need to test them to find out. Good,