When Gensha Shibi, a Chinese Zen master, and a general
were eating cakes together,
the general asked:
- What is it that's used everyday but not known?
The master handed a piece of cake to the general and said:
- Eat this...
continue...
All the world says,
"I am important;
I am separate from all the world.
I am important because I am separate,
Were I the same, I could never be important."
Yet here are three treasures
That I cherish and commend to you:
The first is compassion,
By which one finds courage.
The second is restraint,
By which one finds strength.
And the third is unimportance,
By which one finds influence.