Illusion

One day, a teacher was called to the king’s court to give tuition to the prince. The teacher soon found that the prince was eager to learn and was open to being taught and hearing wise lessons, but that he was also very attached to the material things in life and had great difficulty in seeing through the illusion of existence. One day, when the teacher and his student were in the castle’s library, the teacher gave the prince a bowl and said: ‘I have a great thirst, prince. Would you please get some water from the river in this bowl?’ The prince took the bowl and set off for the river…..

When he stooped to fill the bowl with water, he saw a pretty young woman, who just like him was about to scoop water from the river. The woman was so dazzlingly beautiful that the prince fell in love instantly. The prince walked her home and was introduced to her parents and it wasn’t long before they celebrated their wedding. The prince and his wife bought some land, built a house, had a son and a daughter and led a happy life for many years. But one day the soldiers of a hostile king invaded the land.

A terrible war raged and the prince’s son was killed. The parents were heartbroken. The hostile troops were eventually ousted, but they had wreaked great destruction on the land. A short while after the war ended, a terrible storm occurred. Rivers burst their banks and floods caused enormous damage. And the water kept rising. The prince, his wife and their daughter had to climb on top of the roof to escape death from drowning. But the daughter slipped and was killed in the waves. The parents’ grief was almost unbearable. The water level had only just started dropping again when the country was hit by illness and many, many people died. The prince’s wife also fell ill. She was in bed with a high fever and one day she asked her husband to get her some water from the river, because she was so thirsty. The prince took a bowl and set off for the river…..

Then the prince suddenly heard a voice that asked: ‘Where’s my water?’

The prince looked up and saw the teacher standing in front of him.

And then he understood what the teacher meant by illusion.