One day a traveler was walking along a road on his journey from one village to another.
\nAs he walked he noticed a monk tilling the ground in the fields beside the road. The monk said \u201cGood day\u201d to the traveler and the traveler nodded to the monk.
\nThe traveler then turned to the monk and said, \u201cExcuse me, do you mind if I ask you a question?\u201d
\n\u201cNot at all,\u201d replied the monk.
\n\u201cI am traveling from the village in the mountains to the village in the valley and I was wondering if you knew what it is like in the village in the valley?\u201d
\n\u201cTell me,\u201d said the monk. \u201cWhat was your experience of the village in the mountains?\u201d
\n\u201cDreadful,\u201d replied the traveler.
\n\u201cTo be honest I am glad to be away from there. I found the people most unwelcoming. When I first arrived I was greeted coldly. I was never made to feel a part of the village no matter how hard I tried. The villagers keep very much to themselves; they don\u2019t take kindly to strangers. So tell me, what can I expect in the village in the valley?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry to tell you,\u201d said the monk, \u201cbut I think your experience will be much the same there.\u201d
\nThe traveler hung his head despondently and walked on. A few months later another traveler was journeying down the same road and he also came upon the monk.
\n\u201cGood day,\u201d said the traveler.
\n\u201cGood day,\u201d said the monk.
\n\u201cHow are you?\u201d asked the traveler.
\n\u201cI\u2019m well,\u201d replied the monk. \u201cWhere are you going?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m going to the village in the valley,\u201d replied the traveler.
\n\u201cDo you know what it is like?\u201d
\n\u201cI do,\u201d replied the monk. \u201cBut first, tell me, where have you come from?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019ve come from the village in the mountains.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd how was that?\u201d
\n\u201cIt was a wonderful experience. I would have stayed if I could but I am committed to traveling on. I felt as though I were a member of the family in the village. The elders gave me much advice, the children laughed and joked with me, and the people generally were kind and generous. I am sad to have left there. It will always hold special memories for me. And what of the village in the valley?\u201d he asked again.
\n\u201cI think you will find it much the same,\u201d replied the monk. \u201cGood day to you.\u201d
\n\u201cGood day and thank you,\u201d replied the traveler, smiled, and journeyed on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One day a traveler was walking along a road on his journey from one village to another. As he walked he noticed a monk tilling the ground in the fields beside the road. The monk said \u201cGood day\u201d to the traveler and the traveler nodded to the monk. The traveler then turned to the monk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}