A young student glanced over at the large, rough looking old man as he toiled at his back breaking task of repairing one of the many dry stone Walls that crisscrossed the landscape through which he and his master walked.
“I am so very grateful to be learning the way of the warrior monk,” he said “rather than living a life of worthless toil, day in and day out”
The master, upon hearing this comment, decided to make a small detour and walk over to the person repairing the wall. “greetings brother!” he said warmly, “I hope you don’t mind this interruption, but I have always been fascinated by your particular trade, and would deem it a great honour if you would allow me to help you for a while”
The big old man grunted and nodded, “I suppose you can help for a while, as long as you don’t end up hindering me. This wall needs to be finished by nightfall”
The master agreed, and began rolling the sleeves of his robe up in preparation for the work ahead and, his student, upon seeing this, shook his head incredulously, and began to do the same.
“No!” the master commanded, “You may not help. I want you to just sit there, and watch and listen. nothing more.”
So, the student sat and observed the two men as they worked. To start with, the master got a lot of things wrong, he would put the wrong stones in the wrong place, and ended up using far more energy than the old man, who seemed to be talking to himself for most of the time. He also noticed that, whenever the old man picked up a stone, it seemed to almost jump into the place he had prepared for it, and fitted perfectly.
At last, the stonewaller began giving some advice to the master. “You have to prepare the place you want the stone to fit in” he said, “you need to listen to what the wall is trying to tell you” as he said this, he demonstrated by reaching down and taking a handful of earth which he then spread upon the surface of the wall in order to bed in the next stone. The master nodded and began doing the same, gradually becoming better at the process.
A while later, the master was having trouble with a particular stone: No matter which way he turned it, he couldn’t seem to make it fit, eventually, he thought he had it, only to watch as it slowly shifted and fell back to the ground.
The old man chuckled. “That one isn’t ready to become a part of the wall yet” he said. ” you can’t make a stone fit, or force a stone to fit. It has to be ready, and fit nicely all by itself. All we are doing is helping them become what they want to be, not forcing them to be something they are not” again, he demonstrated by almost throwing a stone in place and watching it as it nestled into place comfortably.
Again, the master nodded and, taking a stone, he looked at it, and then at the space in the wall he wanted it for, then dropped it in favour of another one, which fitted absolutely perfectly. “you learn well” said his mentor approvingly. “you will notice that I don’t reach for just any stone. It has to be the stone, the one that, out of all the stones in the whole world, is meant for this particular place at this particular time. Nothing else will do if you want a good, solid wall that is not going to fall down every five minutes.”
The master nodded and, smiling, bowed deeply. “Thank you, master, for sharing your wisdom with me” he said reverently. “Now, the wall is almost finished, my hands are bleeding and my back aches. Yet, does my heart feel more open from the light you have shone into it. With the sun sinking so low in the horizon, and with our journey still stretched out before us, I must now continue on my way with the wisdom you have given me. We must leave you to talk to your wall.”
The old man shrugged “I am a simple man” he said, “And I really don’t have any idea what you are going on about. I just helped you to help me help the wall, that’s all, nothing special. Pity you can’t stay longer though: the stones have such a lot more to say to those that take the time to listen.”
They continued on there way in silence for a while, and then the student said “okay, I understand. There is enlightenment to be found in all things, even the most menial of tasks. That preparation is important as it allows conscious thought and reason to dictate our actions. And, that we, each and every one of us, have a special place set aside just for us and no one else, even if we are not ready or able to fill it yet, and that the rash actions of a single individual can undermine all of the good work done by others. But still master, I have to ask: Why didn’t you let me help with the wall?”
“because you simply are not ready yet.” said the master.