By Christopher Hester 8th July 2006 · Last updated 9th February 2009
The Zen priest led the man to the door of the room. While the priest was thin and agile for his fifty years of age, the man was overweight for his forty-four. He was glad when they had reached the door, as the climb up the seventy-seven steps to reach the temple had exhausted him. The priest showed no signs of exhaustion, being used to his daily routine of visiting the temple. He turned to the man and began to speak in a gentle but firm voice.
"Before you enter the room, you must agree to abide by my rules."
The man agreed. He had contacted the priest out of despair with his own life, but he wasn't sure what direction he needed to follow. Sick of the nine-to-five routine of the city, visiting the priest and his temple seemed as far from the office as he could get. The priest had agreed to show him a way forward, but only if he followed his exact advice.
Entering the room, the man saw it contained a long wooden table on which were placed several plain boxes of differing size, shape and colour. The man seemed perplexed. Had he come all this way for this?
The priest spoke again.
"My instructions are clear. Each box you see on the table is empty, except for a small note inside. You must choose a box, then follow the instructions on the note. If you do not, then you have already failed. Do you understand?"
The man nodded without saying a word. He was too busy eyeing up the boxes.
"Now choose a box and let us begin."
The man wasted no time. He walked quickly up to the table and grabbed hold of the biggest box he could see. Immediately he tore open the flaps and grabbed the note inside.
"What does the note say?" asked the priest.
"It says... 'To be free from your worries, you must give away all your money to charity'."
The man paused. He looked down with sadness. But then, he suddenly screwed up the note and threw it on the ground.
"Ridiculous! I can't give all my money away! I'd be broke! Do you have any idea how much money I own? Do you?!"
The priest showed him the door without answering.
When the blind lady reached the door of the temple room, again the priest said she must choose a box, then follow the instructions on the note inside. She was old now, almost eighty-two. Whatever the note said, she was sure it would be good for her. She had checked her stars and today was a good day, she could feel it.
"Now please choose a box." the priest asked as they entered the room. Taking her time she moved forward until she could feel the edge of the table with her hands. Moving up, she ran her fingers gently over each box until she had mapped the shapes in her mind. She then lifted a medium-sized box off the table and opened it slowly. Feeling inside, she pulled out the note and handed it to the priest.
"What does it say? I'm afraid I can't see to read it."
The priest took the note and read it out.
"It says - 'You must now seek your ultimate ambition in life, or you will face going blind'."
A pause filled the room with silence.
"Of course, since you are already blind, you are free to ignore the note if you wish."
The woman lifted her head then replied, "In that case I will take the advice and use it anyway. I've always planned to write a book. Now's the time to start."
As the priest led the man into the room, he observed him in the same manner as he had the previous two individuals who had contacted him. Both seeked direction in life. The first, a greedy obese man, had been quite rude, thought the priest. He had gone for the biggest box in the room, as if it held the best note. Whlie the blind woman had used her hands to feel for a box she was comfortable with lifting. Perhaps, he wondered, she had simply chosen a box at random? Regardless, she had accepted the outcome, even when the priest had allowed her to ignore the note's advice.
But what was he to make of the man that stood before him? A man aged thirty-three, of thin build, who reminded the priest of a younger version of himself. He also seemed humble, at peace with the world and himself. Maybe he had come to the priest merely to confirm the direction he had already chosen for himself. Or maybe he was after a change in his life that he could not predict. The man and the priest were both about to find out as they entered the room.
At first, the man stood silent. He then picked up a small box. It wasn't the smallest of the boxes, the priest noted, as the man gingerly opened it and started to read out the words on the note.
But silence took hold of him. Was the note too shocking to read out?
The priest moved forward as the man broke his silence.
"It's blank." he reported. "The note's blank."
"Ah," the priest announced, "Excellent!"
This met with a puzzled look on the man's face, but the priest continued.
"Only one of the boxes has a blank note inside. You are lucky to be the one who has chosen it. What it means is that you are free to decide yourself what you wish to do with your life. The chances are you are already set on the right path."
The man smiled and shook hands with the priest.
"Thank you." he said.
Later that year, as the skies were darkening, and the air was turning colder, the priest was about to leave the temple when a large burly man approached him. The priest began to recognise him.
"Hi! Remember me? I had a mild stroke not long after we met. I knew then I had to abandon the stress of my city life. I had to make a serious change. So I did what you - the note in your box - said. I emptied my bank account and gave the money to a local charity for the homeless. You know what? It felt great! All that money was causing me a lot of stress, worrying about how best to spend it, or how to invest it... now I feel like a new man! I've lost weight too. No more company lunches. And I'm walking instead of taking the car. I must thank you greatly for your help in correcting my life. And you know the best news of all?"
The priest knew what the man was about to say. He knew because the man was wearing the same coloured robes as himself.
"I heard you were looking for someone to train as your replacement before you retire. So I applied, and was accepted!"
Both men began to laugh before embracing.
I had the title for a while, but wasn't sure what to do with it at first. The empty boxes aren't quite empty, but I don't think 'Almost Empty Boxes' or 'Empty Boxes Except For Having A Note Inside Them' would have made for great titles! Beside, I wanted to mirror the idea of zen and emptiness. Nothing is truly empty, even outer space (or is it?). A box contains air, if nothing else. If you took out the air and created a vacuum inside the box, then it would contain a vacuum instead! Now ponder on the meaning of the boxes and the notes, and the way each person reacts differently in the story.
© Chris Hester. All rights reserved.