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What does it take to follow the teachings of your wise ones?

Most of us can see the good in many a path.

However, to find those who embody such teachings is another matter entirely.

A few years ago, I spent time familiarising myself with the ethical teachings of another tradition.

After reflecting on them at length, I thought to myself: “All of this is good. Rays from the same lamp.”

But about half an hour later, I wandered into a local shop, where I encountered a chap who by outward appearances should have manifested all I had read.

But, instead, I witnessed the ugliest of behaviour as he rebuked his own sister with the vilest of language, completely oblivious to the nobility I had just discovered.

Here, a man displaying every visible symbol of his tradition, but not an ounce of its ethical precepts. Listening to him, I nearly rebuked him myself, reciting back to him the wisdom of his own teachers.

But, instead, I left his shop, disappointed, as so often before.

How hard it is to bring to life what your wise ones taught. Mostly, we’re just playing at dressing up.