Patriarch Subodhi

One of my pupils has just encountered a monkey roaming our chambers and has brought him to me. Once the monkey had told me he was from the Water Curtain Cave, I was disgusted having heard of those people and how they conduct themselves. I saw this monkey as a disgrace but when he explained to me how he had floated over the oceans and the lands for ten years I was truly surprised. I find it my responsibility to teach those who truly want to be taught and be enlightened and this monkey had shown me that. When giving my lectures I could see he was not like the others, he jumped and danced wildly. I still found this to be disrespectful but I was pleased by how interested he was in learning. I wanted monkey to know all the different schools of wisdom’s we have and I needed him to understand he had many options. As I kept naming out different subjects he could learn he kept asking “would this make me live forever” to the point where I was losing patience. I dismissed him by shouting at him but I still gave him a sign by striking him three times to meet me at the third watch. I used the language of the secret signs to see if he would be committed to understanding what I meant even though I dismissed him in an angrily fashion. The monkey asking continuously about immortality showed me he wanted to learn and he wouldn’t back down from any challenge that was placed upon him. The sign was my final step in seeing if he was truly prepared to be taught about immortality. I wanted to see if his anger would get the better of him or would he be patient in understanding what I did. He arrived to my room at third watch and woke me up which showed me he was truly a product of heaven and earth.