Page 31 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

day it so happened that one of the greatest of the Indian

teachers turned up in the Chinese capital and the emperor, as
soon as he heard the news, was very pleased indeed. He thought

he would have a wonderful philosophical discussion with this
newly-arrived teacher. So the teacher was invited to the palace,
where he was received with due pomp and ceremony, and when

all the formalities were over, and the teacher and the emperor
had taken their seats, the emperor put his first question. 'Tell

me,' he said, 'what is the fundamental principle of Buddhism?'
and sat back, waiting to get the answer straight from the horse's
mouth, as it were. The teacher replied, 'Ceasing to do all evil;

learning to do good; purifying the heart — this is the
fundamental principle of Buddhism.' The emperor was rather

taken aback: he had heard all that before (we have usually heard
it all before'), so he said, 'Is that all? Is that the fundamental
principle of Buddhism?' 'Yes', replied the sage, 'that's all. Cease

to do evil; learn to do good; purify the heart. That is indeed the
fundamental principle of Buddhism.' 'But this is so simple that

even a child of three can understand it,' protested the emperor.
'Yes, your majesty,' said the teacher, 'that is quite true. It is so
simple that even a child of three can understand it, but so

difficult that even an old man of eighty cannot put it into
practice.‘

This story illustrates the very great difference that exists
between understanding and practice. We find it very easy simply

to understand. We can understand the Abhidharma; we can
understand the Madhyamika; we can understand the Yogachara;

we can understand Plato; we can understand Aristotle; we can
understand the Four Gospels: we can understand everything. But

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