The Problem (Ancient Chinese Fable)

A great teacher and a guardian shared the administration of a Zen monastery.

One day the guardian died and had to be replaced.

The great master gathered all his disciples, to choose who would have that honor.

"I am going to present them a problem," he said, "the one who solves it first will be the new guardian of the temple."

He brought a bench to the center of the room, and placed on it a huge and beautiful porcelain vase with a beautiful red rose and said: "This is the problem".

The disciples watched in perplexity what they saw: the sophisticated and rare designs of the porcelain, the freshness and elegance of the flower ... What did that represent? What should be done? What was the meaning? All were paralyzed.

After a few minutes, a student got up, looked at the teacher and the other disciples, walked to the center of the room with determination, drew a sword and without thinking again destroyed the precious vase in one fell swoop.

As soon as the disciple returned to his place, the great master said: "Someone has dared not only to find the solution to the problem, but to eliminate it, let's honor our new guardian of the monastery".

Source: Ancient Chinese Fable.

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We all have problems in our lives, some are small, others big, some do not bother us much, but after all they are problems, some date from a while ago and others from very early in our lives, however, they are all problems , and as such, we must eliminate them.

The great teacher was quite clear, he told the students that they had a problem before them, and many, thinking about the solution or the problem itself, did not arrive at the action, a problem is a problem, and therefore it is necessary to eliminate them, it does not matter if they hide in a beautiful and valuable vase or if we can not understand their implications, the problems must be eliminated.

In the fable the problem is represented as an object, it is not understood what harm it causes or who does it, but that is really irrelevant for teaching, which is quite simple, the problems must be eliminated.

Usually the Asian fables are based above all on the old values of discipline, honor and respect, leaving aside all the modern complications, and looking at the nature of things, so that we reach a fairly good conclusion simple. In the case of this fable, the problems are destructive in nature, and for that reason they must be eliminated. No matter specific characteristics or particularities, it only matters to eliminate the root of what causes us harm.

Many times in our lives we accumulate a series of small problems, for the simple fact that it is easier to live with the damage we do than eliminate them, this always ends up hurting us more in the long run, when we have to live each of our days dragging the weight of the past, it is best to end our problems at our first opportunity, and thus avoid future pain.

This does not mean that we should act without measuring our actions, or in a brusque way, but that we must inevitably face the problems.