On a snowy day, a farmer was struggling to travel. Dressed thinly and suffering from the biting cold, he suddenly noticed what seemed to be a furry scarf tucked between two massive rocks ahead. Overjoyed, he reached out to grab it. To his horror, a roar erupted from behind the rocks—the "scarf" was actually the tail of a large gray wolf. The beast had been resting behind the stones, and the farmer's sudden tug had startled it awake. Hungry and having gone days without prey, the wolf was in no mood to let a meal delivered straight to its mouth escape, and it began to struggle violently. The farmer's regret came too late; he had to cling desperately to the wolf's tail, using the two large rocks to shield himself from its sharp teeth and claws. A single moment of letting go would mean certain death.
In this critical moment, a monk appeared on the mountain path. The farmer cried out, "Master, please kill the wolf and save me!"
The monk replied calmly, "Sinful, sinful! All living things have souls; I dare not kill!" He then proceeded to speak eloquently about the path of compassion, urging the farmer to abandon his evil thoughts and convert to Buddhism. Meanwhile, the farmer was gritting his teeth, clutching the wolf's tail. When the monk finished his sermon, the farmer, who was on the verge of collapse, said, "Master, it is either the wolf or me. Since you refuse to kill, you cannot simply stand by and watch. Please hold the wolf's tail so that I may go around the rock to deal with it." After a long pause, the monk felt that standing by and watching someone die was also a heavy sin, and since holding a tail wasn't technically killing, he took the tail from the farmer and gripped it tightly.
However, the farmer did not go around the rock to kill the wolf. Instead, he began humming a tune and walked straight down the mountain.
The monk shouted, "Hey, layman! Why aren't you killing the wolf?" "Sinful, sinful," the farmer replied devoutly, "You have convinced me. I plan to live a life of vegetarianism and prayer from now on; I dare not commit the sin of killing again."
A person's perspective is often determined by their own circumstances. Before preaching great truths, you must try to put yourself in another's shoes.
