One day the Buddha, showing a precious stone that changed colour depending on beholders, asked his students, “What colour is this?” Each of the students responded with a different colour. Then, the Buddha hid the precious stone in his sleeve and raising his hands, said, “What colour is this?” His students answered, “You don’t have the precious stone in your hands. Where can the colours be?” The Buddha said with a sigh of grief, “How can your ignorance be this deep? When I showed you a worldly precious stone, each of you produced words such as blue, orange, red, white, black and so on. However, when I show you the true precious stone, you say that you don’t know.”

Student: “What is the true precious stone that the Buddha showed?”
Master: “It is in your hands now as well.”
Commentary:
It never moves at all but there is no place it cannot reach.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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