THE TONGUE AND THE EYE

There was a monk once who as the first two steps in ascetic practice decided on two vows: (1) not to injure any living thing and (2) not to speak falsehood.

While he was engaged in meditation under a tree in the thick jungle, invoking the aid of God to confirm him in these two vows, he saw a beautiful deer, running in terror from some hunters and taking refuge in a bower behind his hermitage.

The hunters came to him seconds later. They asked him about the whereabouts of the deer. The poor monk was in a fix. If he told them that he saw it entering the bower they would catch it and kill it. That will go against his first vow. If he told them that he does not know its whereabouts, it would be against his second vow. He avoided breaking both his vows in a very clever way.

He said, “The eye that sees cannot speak. The tongue that speaks cannot see. I cannot compel the eye to speak, nor the tongue to see.” The hunters went away quietly and the deer was saved. The monk had not uttered a falsehood.