Once there was a very famous pianist who had won many musical awards. He had mastered his craft to the utmost level, thus many people wished to be his students. One day another pianist paid him a visit and said, "I wish to continue my learning with you and I have been playing piano for three years. Can you tell me how long will it take for me to complete with you?"

The famous pianist said, "It will take six years."

The other pianist then asked again, "How long will it take if I have no foundation at all in playing the piano to learn to play to the same level like you?"

The famous pianist said, "Three years."

Greatly puzzled, the other pianist said, "This does not make sense to me."

The master pianist then said, "I need to spend the first three years to help you unlearn all the things that you have learned before. Then another three years to teach you the proper way to play the instrument. In contrast, those who do not have any foundation are like a piece of white paper on which I can imprint whatever I want."

The moral of this story is very important, on the other hand it does not imply that we should not attempt to learn anything at all nor should we discredit all the knowledge that we have acquired. The message is that we should not let things that we have learned become the stumbling blocks for our progress.

When we come into contact with any matters, we should keep an open mind and not approach the subject matter with only our preconception and biases. Unfortunately people tend to criticize or reject immediately when suggestions or ideas made by others are not in line with theirs. We should put our preconceived notions aside temporary to listen to what others have to say and analyze them judiciously before deciding whether to adopt or reject them. Anything genuinely good should be considered for adoption and if in doubt, we can simply treat them as references so that we will be able to understand another person better at the same time it can be to our own benefit.

Viewing the world with preconceptions and prejudices is analogous to looking through a pair of tinted glasses. We will never be able to see the true color unless we take off the tinted glasses. This is especially true in spiritual cultivation. It is easier to guide a young and innocent devotee than an older devotee who had gone through years of spiritual practice with his own preconception of what is right and what is false. Unfortunately everyone claims his path is the highest path and he is the luckiest person in the world to be in his path. Just like the famous pianist to firstly help the other pianist to unlearn all the things that he had learned before.

This is a true story about Bodhidharma (Great Indian Master) and Shinkuan (Great Chinese Master in China). Bodhidharma while in India was directed by his master Arya Prajnatara in India to search for the right person in China to continue the lineage of Tao. In China he found Shinkuan and knew that Shinkuan was the potential successor. Shinkuan had been teaching classic scripture for forty-nine years when he met Bodhidharma.

While Shinkuan was teaching the scripture, Bodhidharma asked him, "Where is the scripture and where is the dharma?"

Shinkuan said, "Scripture and dharma are both on paper."

Bodhidharma said, "Words are in black and papers are in white. Where is the dharma? If you said you have the dharma, let me draw a cake on paper to satisfy your hunger."

Shinkuan asked, "How can a paper cake fill the hunger?"

Bodhidharma said, "Since the paper cake can