Book recommendation: Dalai Lama - The Book of Joy: https://amzn.to/3EMBRHU.
Each of us sees the world from a different perspective. Which one is the right one? A buddhist short story about the limitations of our knowledge.


The Blind Men and The Elephant
Once upon a time, there was a group of blind men. They were born blind and hadn’t seen anything in their entire life. If they wanted to know what something looked like, they had to touch it or have someone describe it to them. Over the years they came up with a very clear picture in their head of what the world looks like. But many things remained mysterious to them, especially an animal called “elephant”. They had heard many stories about this beast. Some said it was giant and brutal, others said it was lovely and has a trunk on its face. The more they talked about it the more curious they became about this special animal.

One day, they got the chance to find out. They heard that a man from the east was together with his elephant in the town. They made their way to this stranger and asked him for permission to touch the beast. The stranger agreed and sat down on a brick wall. The blind men approached the elephant and each of them touched the animal to discover what it looked like. But, each of them touched a different part of the large animal.

One of them felt its tusk and concluded that an elephant is smooth and sharp like a spear. The second one put his hand on the elephant’s side and replied, “you are wrong, it looks like a giant wall.” Another one felt the elephant’s trunk and disagreed with the others as well. “No, it must look like a snake.” And the last of them touched one of its legs and told the others it looked like a tall tree.

Soon, the blind men started debating. Each of them was convinced that they knew what an elephant looked like. They couldn’t understand why the others disagreed with them. When the discussion became more and more intense, someone started to laugh. It was the stranger who was still sitting on the wall.

“You fools!”, he began, “your knowledge and experience are limited, you only know a small part and yet you keep it for the whole truth and condemn all other perspectives. You are no more blind than any other human being.”



Keywords: Buddhist Short Story, motivational story, zen story, sleep story, inspirational story, buddhastory, words of wisdom