Oct
5th
Wed
5th
Enlightenment
One day the Buddha told the story of the blind men and the elephant. A king ordered all of his subjects who were blind to be assembled into groups and he placed an elephant in their midst. He then asked them to describe what was in their midst. One group touched the head of an elephant and said “It’s a water-pot”. One group felt the ears of the elephant and said “It’s a winnowing-basket”. One group touched a leg and said “It’s a lamp-post”. The last group felt the tusk and said “It’s a tent-peg”. They then all began to argue amongst themselves.
“You see,” said the Buddha to his disciples, “this is how to go about taking the piss when you are among blind people”.
The Buddha was a nasty piece of work, as it happens.
