A young monk was supposed to wander around the world but, he postponed the departure date again and again. The abbot waited impatiently, ‘You’d supposed to start off six months ago. What’s stopping you?’

The very perturbed monk sighed, ‘It is a trial of a very long journey. I can’t imagine how many thousands of mountains and rivers I will have to go through. The climates, the clothes, the foods, and some others. I need to have a very well plan before I set off.’

The abbot hesitated for a while and nodded, ‘Yes, it is such a very long way. You certainly need to have a good preparation. Do you have enough shoes?’ Then, the abbot ordered every monk to make ten pairs of shoes for him. There were one hundred monks living in the temple. Over thousands pairs of shoes were piled up in his room not long after. The young monk was stunned at the scene.

 The abbot ordered again, ‘This junior is going far away. He will meet the unnumbered trials and hardships on the journey. Everyone makes an umbrella for him.’ Over a hundred umbrellas were delivered to his room before long. The shoes and the umbrellas were stacked like a hill.

 The abbot asked, ‘Do you have enough clothes? I will order…’

The young monk interrupted, ‘Teacher, I wander around the world myself only. Look at the stuff, let alone to go the thousands of miles. I can hardly move one tiny step.’

The abbot smiled faintly, ‘No hurry, these are not enough yet. You will across the boundless oceans too. I’m going to order every monk to build a boat for you.’

The young monk knelt down in a rush, ‘Teacher, I’ve understood your intention. I hit the road right now!’

The abbot said, ‘When one starts off on a journey, a pair of shoes and a monk’s alms bowl are already enough. If he carries a lot of stuff, it will only become a burden on the way. As a result, he will never walk far. We will wander around the world from time to time, all we need to have a pure heart and a monk pouch.’

The young monk comprehended it eventually.

=============================================================

The more we want, the more it will become a burden to us at the end of the day.

Life can be as simple as it is.