Pen Lo had for many years breeding horses for the Duke. Pen Lo was getting old and so the Duke asked him to find a younger person from his family to take over the breeding of horses. Pen Lo told the Duke, “We can judge a horse by its muscles and appearance. But the best horses are those that cannot be judged by their outer appearance. They have a special inner nature that a horse breeder should recognize.”
Pen Lo continued, “There is no one in my family with that ability, but I know of one such person. He is just a poor man who hauls material from one place to another. Yet he can see the difference between a good horse and a great one.”
The Duke sent for the poor man and asked him to find a special horse. The man went away for three months and then informed the Duke that he had indeed found a special horse. The Duke was excited and asked him, “What kind of horse is it?” The man answered, “It is a yellow mare.”
The Duke sent his men to bring the horse and they reported that it was a black stallion. The angry Duke called Pen Lo and took him to task: “Your man knows nothing about horses. He cannot differentiate between a mare and a stallion, he does not even know the difference between yellow and black.”
Pen Lo, however, was delighted. He told the Duke, “The man is far better than I hoped he would be. In fact, he is ten thousand times better than me in evaluating horses. He has transcended judging a horse by its appearance and sees only its inner nature. When he looks at horse, he does not see its colour or whether it is male or female. He only sees its true essence.”
Indeed, when the horse was brought to the Duke, he instantly recognized it to be the greatest horse he had ever seen.
Background: This is a Taoist tale from the writings of the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu, who lived about 2400 years ago. He was a master who could explain the Tao through simple stories. The other great Taoist philosopher was Lao Tzu, who lived about 200 years earlier than Chuang Tzu.
I enjoy reading these ageless stories… still applicable today although predates thousands of years ago. Indeed the true wisdom lies in embracing and seeing the beauty and essence of a living being by shedding all Negative or egocentric labels
Transcending is an important aspect of human lives. Sanatana Dharma has always been at it and to be in such a state requires tremendous energy and conviction. It is a situation of par excellence requiring no public attention and such persons remain peaceful and serene. It is more to do with discernment, scaling far beyond mere judgement.