Once upon a time in a small village there was a great teacher of a grand tradition. The great teacher was admired far and wide, and one day he
died. Upon the passing, it was decided there would be a memorial service
to honor, what else, the memory of the life of the great one so treasured throughout the land. There were no enemies to speak of, and all who had some difference with the teacher's teaching yet so loved the teacher's
living, no difference was enough to keep away a single one from the great gathering in the light of the passing.
On the day of the memorial, a great multitude from round the globe were present. This involved many pupils of the great teacher, naturally, and it
happened that an enterprising reporter sought to interview the cream of
the crop. Four were chosen.
Together the reporter asked them a plain question,
"What was it about your teacher that you admired so much, that made the great one, so grand?"
Thought-provoking, to be sure, still nothing but stone silence ensued from
the crop. So to try again, from another angle, the query came up,
"Was it the way your teacher taught you, the big ideas explored?"
All agreed their teacher had a clear mind, dazzling ideas, yet the reply
came as one voice, Not so much that.
A third attempt, "Was it the way your teacher cared for you as individuals,
the compassion shown?"
One after another all agreed their teacher had a clean heart, pure passion, yet again, the one voice, Not so much that.
As the questioning went along the same vein, and the answering fell into
the same rut, Not this, Not that, the reporter began to think the chosen ones were dullards in disguise, or perhaps their teacher was not after all so grand, or had left no deep impression. So in a final act of desperation the inquisitor bellowed,
"Just what was so great about the one everyone came here today to remember? Could you have forgotten so soon, already?"
As though to redeem the reputation of the cream of the crop, the cream of that cream said simply, with a whisper so humble you could hardly hear,
It was surely the way the great one entered and left the room. So still,
you saw no movement.
