"What does a snake look like?" "The handle of a shovel."

"What does an elephant look like?" "The handle of a shovel."

Why does everything look like the handle of a shovel? The teacher frowned at the student.

One day, a group of monks living in the monastery at Anathapindika Park gathered together, animatedly talking among themselves.

The Buddha happened to pass by. "What're you talking about?" he asked.

A monk replied, "When I went out to beg for food today, I heard people talking about our monastery."

"What did they say?"

"They were talking about Ashuda, an elder in our monastery," the monk replied. "It seems that he often says the wrong things. He congratulates bereaved family members at funerals and makes inauspicious comments at weddings. Today, for example, Ashuda was invited to a wedding. When the bridegroom's father asked him to bless the newlyweds, he said, "May each of you marry a hundred times." What he said greatly upset the family, and thus the word got out that he was totally muddleheaded."

Hearing this, the Buddha said, "Ashuda has been acting like this since his previous life." He then told them the story of Ashuda.

It so happened that Ashuda had already embarked on the road to spiritual cultivation in his previous life. However, he was dumb and ignorant and he lagged far behind his fellow monks, and so they didn't like him very much. Ashuda's mentor believed that since he was slow, he needed more guidance, so he kept Ashuda by his side to help him out any way he could.

One day, after coming home from a meeting, the tired mentor went to bed. Finding the bed a bit unsteady, he asked Ashuda to fix it by wedging something under one of the legs.

Ashuda looked around for a while, but he couldn't find anything suitable. Seeing that his master had already fallen asleep out of exhaustion, he didn't want to disturb him, and so he decided to steady the bed by sticking his own finger under one leg.

When morning broke, the mentor awoke to find Ashuda sitting on the floor. "Why are you sitting on the floor?" he asked. Ashuda replied, "I couldn't find anything to fix the bed, so I decided to steady it by wedging it with my finger."

The mentor shook his head, feeling that his young disciple's act was half silly and half considerate.

"How can I teach him to clear away the confusion and stupidity in his mind?" After some thought, the older monk decided to teach him through practical examples from daily life.

One day, when the two of them went out to collect firewood, they came across a snake. The mentor asked, "What does a snake look like?" After a short pause, Ashuda answered, "The handle of a shovel."

The snake's long slender body did indeed resemble the handle of a shovel. The old monk was pleased with the answer.

A couple of days later, Ashuda told his master that he had seen an elephant that day. "How would you describe an elephant?" the mentor asked.

"It's like the handle of a shovel," Ashuda replied.

The monk thought to himself, "An elephant and the handle of a shovel... In what way do they resemble each other? Hmm... an elephant's straight legs and pointed tail do look a bit like the handle of a shovel. All right, I'll buy that." He nodded his head to show his approval.

On another occasion, they were invited to a meal. After they returned home, the mentor asked Ashuda, "Do you remember what we ate today?"

"Yes, pastry rolls," Ashuda replied.

"Tell me what a pastry roll looks like."

"Like the handle of a shovel."

"How are they like each other?" The mentor pondered. "Maybe Ashuda thought they're alike because they're both shaped like a stick." He patted Ashuda on his head as a way of praising him.

A few days later, after they had returned home from another meal, the mentor asked Ashuda again, "Do you remember what we ate today?"

"Yes, we had cheese," Ashuda replied.

"Tell me what cheese looks like."

"The handle of a shovel," Ashuda answered without a second thought.

The mentor frowned. "Why does everything look like the handle of a shovel?"

With an innocent, puzzled look on his face, Ashuda said, "Is my answer wrong? Before, whenever I answered your questions by saying 'the handle of a shovel,' you always seemed pleased. So I thought it was the best answer I could give."

The Buddha commented that although Ashuda had the resolution and determination to carry out his spiritual practice, he was unable to improve himself because he was ignorant and inattentive.

In our daily life, we should mindfully pay attention to everything that happens around us--to our thoughts, the environments we are in, and the feelings of others. Only by doing so can we keep a clear mind in this complicated world and prevent our pure innate nature from being obscured by confusion.