Starting Spiritual Practice
What does the story of blind people touching an elephant teach us about spiritual practice?
English translation draft · Based on the Chinese article. This is not a word-for-word translation approved by Master Shengyuan.
It reminds us that knowing a part does not mean knowing the whole. When someone speaks differently from us, they may have encountered a different part. First understand what they are discussing, rather than treating our present knowledge as the only complete picture.
In the story, someone touching a leg finds it solid like a pillar; someone touching the trunk discovers something long and flexible; someone touching an ear finds something like a large sheet of cloth. Each description of the part touched may be right, but none yet understands the entire elephant.
Applied to practice, this means learning more about where we want to go, what that direction involves, and what we need to study. A brief experience does not mean we understand everything. Knowing which parts remain unseen leaves room for further learning.