The Humility That Does Not Think It Knows Everything Is the Beginning of Wisdom

There is a story in which the Buddha taught through the image of leaves in his hand and leaves in the forest. The teaching he gave was like the leaves in his hand, while what he had awakened to and knew was as vast as the leaves in the forest.

We easily think we know after learning a few lines of scripture or seeing only part of someone. Yet a person's mind and life, background and conditions, are as broad as a forest and difficult to know completely.

When it is hard even to know myself fully, if I conclude that I know another person completely, my judgment becomes rough and relationships become blocked. Wisdom begins not from insisting that I know a great deal, but from the humility of knowing that much is still unknown.

Today, do not make easy conclusions about people or teachings. Look at them with a broad and careful mind, as if standing before a forest.