Master And Student: To See

Master (M). Student (S).

M: You must open your eyes.

S: My eyes are open, Master.

M: If only this were true.

S: I do not understand.

M: Do you see the wind?

S: How can one see wind?

M: Do you see what you have done?

S: What is it I have done?

M: Do you see what you have failed to see?

S: What have I failed to see?

M: Do you still believe your eyes are open, my student?

S: How do I open my eyes, Master?

M: Why do you wish to open them?

S: So that I may see?

M: What is it that you wish to see?

S: I do not know.

M: Then they will not open.

S: Have your eyes always been open, Master?

M: No, my student.

S: Is that so?

M: Yes, my student. There was a time when my eyes were as closed as yours. And yet I insisted that they were open.

S: Why, Master?

M: Because at that time I was not a Master. I was a fool.

S: What caused you to see?

M: The stark recognition that I was a fool.

S: How did you come to realize that, Master?

M: I began to suspect it when life never ceased to be a struggle.

S: Isn’t life always a struggle?

M: Yes, my student. For fools, life can only be a struggle.

S: What did you do when you discovered that your life never ceased to be a struggle?

M: There was nothing to be done.

S: Then how did you come to see?

M: Recognizing that my life never ceased to be a struggle. And recognizing that this could not be The Way were the realizations that began to open my eyes.

S: And when your eyes opened, did everything seem beautiful?

M: Something is “beautiful” only within a background of ugliness. I saw what Was.

S: I do not understand, Master.

M: Do not allow your mind to drift toward romantic illusions, my student.

S: Yes, Master. But please tell me what you saw the day your eyes opened.

M: I saw The Truth. And the truth needs no beauty to enhance it.

S: What was this Truth?

M: How can words possibly carry its weight?

S: You must give me Something, Master.

M: I have given you something, my student.

S: What is that?

M: I have told you that your eyes are closed. And at the moment, this is your greatest Truth.

S: And yet you do not tell me how to open them.

M: My dear student. If I told you how to open them, they would forever remain closed.

S: Why is this so, Master?

M: Because you would forever be lost in an attempt to open them. And your entire life would pass you by.

S: Then what shall I do?

M: Live with the knowledge that your eyes are closed. And when that knowledge makes its way from your head to your heart, your eyes will slowly begin to open.

S: One last question, my Master.

M: Yes, my student.

S: What is the first thing I will see when my eyes open?

M: You will see how pitiable your life was, living with closed eyes.