People, having different questions in life, were coming to the teacher Sho. He always surprised them with his answers.
— How to recognize a real sage, Teacher? — One of the students asked him. – Everyone teaches now!
A teacher Sho smiled and answered:
— A real sage does not teach. He learns.
The sage did not allow students to call him wise.
— Why? — One student asked.
The sage seemed to smile with his eyes:
— You cannot be wise. You can just become it, making mistakes.
— To become wise, making mistakes… — repeated the student and, being surprised, exclaimed: — But it‘s just an experience!
— But then it turns out that you can‘t be a sage! — Another student spoke up.
The sage just smiled in response.
However, the third student protested:
— Someone, making mistakes, becomes smarter and others – not. Thus, it gets so that if a person is wise initially, his wisdom can increase, but if a person don’t have any wisdom, there is nothing to multiply.
The sage smiled wider and nodded:
– Thank you for making me wiser.
