To See or Not to See: A Kōan

There once were two brothers with a common complaint against the world.

“Brother,” said the one. “Hardly can a man close his eyes and open them again without all things having shifted before him.”

“I have noticed this as well, my brother,” said the other. “With each drawing down and raising up again of these fragile shutters there is much of life that we miss.”

They sat together, quietly pondering.

“What should one do?” asked the first.

“What can one do?” answered the second.

Travelers waved leisurely from the road. A plowman busied himself and his animals in a muddy paddy field. Shadows stretched themselves along the ground, reaching hungrily toward the gathering dusk.

“I will close my eyes and never open them again.” And, that is what the first brother did.

Admiring his brother’s resolve, but questioning its wisdom, the second brother vowed to hold his eyes open forever. And, that is what the second brother did.

A humble sage came to visit the two brothers one day. They had aged greatly and many sorrows rested heavily upon them. He listened thoughtfully to their complaint and agreed that change comes swift and certain to all things and everyone. After each brother told of his own struggle against this truth, the sage asked, “And, what have you learned?”

“I do not dream. There is no longer anything I have to imagine or hope for. Nothing escapes my notice, but I am no longer able to see with my heart,” replied the second brother.

“All I have are dreams,” said the first brother. “My imagination has fed upon itself to starvation. Nothing moves in the darkness behind my eyes where there are neither blossoms nor fruit.”

It has now been many years since the two brothers passed away. Travelers take little notice anymore of a small shrine in the trees off the road. The plowman’s great-grandson sold his field, built a new house for his family, and drives to work in the city. Even the sage has long since been forgotten. Only the hungry shadows remember, endlessly fleeing the face of the sun.