“Our Original Nature”
A seeker of truth traveled a very long way to a hermit meditating in a cave and asked:
“Excuse me venerated sir, but please answer me one question.”
A twinkle of wisdom sparkled in the hermit’s eyes as he smiled at the stranger seated before him on the ground and said:
“You have journeyed all this way to ask what man’s original nature is? Is that correct?”
In awe of the hermit’s ability to read his mind, the seeker of truth nodded his head yes.
The hermit then spoke again:
“Tell me, young seeker, when you see your own reflection in a mountain creek is it distorted in anyway?’
The seeker of truth replied:
“I believe it is not, venerated sir. It is clear and resplendent. So much so, that it sometimes appears that I am staring into the mirror of eternity.”
The same twinkle of wisdom sparkled in the hermit’s eyes again as he simply said:
“Clear and resplendent. That is the original nature of man. Everything else that has been added is but an illusion of his natural state.”
