Reading Tea Leaves

There was once a man who traveled long and far to seek advice from a great teacher.

“You seem to be suffering,” said the teacher. “Come, sit, and tell me what I can do to help.”

She motioned the man to a cushion, across from her on the floor. A minute later, one of her students brought a steaming pot of tea and poured a cup for each of them.

“I live in the torment of uncertainty,” said the man. “I look at my beautiful wife, and I worry that she may someday leave me, or be taken from me by death or disease. I look at my fertile fields, and I worry that my crops will be decimated by drought or locusts, and that my family will starve. I look at my young children and I worry that they will grow up to be ungrateful, or wicked. These worries destroy my peace of mind and darken even my dreams. They have robbed me of all happiness.”

The teacher listened, and nodded, and when the man was done, she asked: “And how is it that I might be of help?”

“You are the wisest of the wise,” said the man. “Surely you can see into the future, and tell me all I need to know, so I can live in peace again.”

“Yes, I can,” said the teacher. She paused, and the man leaned forward eagerly. “The future is clear,” she said, “and this is what I see: if we do not drink now, our tea will soon be cold.”