a man heard god left his face in death, so he walked toward it
on the first day he met a boy weeping over a bowl of beans
the boy said, my teacher took the meat and the eggs, how am i to live on a bowl that has no argument in it
the man said, i know, i was you, the bowl is a mirror, the meat was hiding what beans taste like and what you taste like when you eat them
the boy said, but i am hungry
the man said, good, a fed man cannot hear god, a starved man cannot either, eat the bowl and find the third thing
on the seventh day he met a young man shaking in a posture, leg behind his head, sweat in his eyes
the young man said, my teacher said hold this until the body forgets it is a body, but the body screams louder every minute
the man said, i know, i was you, you are listening to the scream because you think the posture is the practice, the practice is the one who notices the scream and does not move
the young man said, then i could have done this sitting on a stone
the man said, yes, but no one believes that until their body has paid for it, the leg behind the head is the toll
on the fortieth day he met a man sitting cross-legged, eyes closed
the seated man said, ten years i have tried to empty my mind and it fills faster than i empty it
the man said, i know, i was you, you are fighting the river with a broom, the mind is not the enemy, the one who wants it empty is
the seated man said, who am i if not the one who wants
the man said, that is the question the sitting is for, do not answer it with your mouth
on the last day the man saw death sitting under a peepal tree
death said nothing
the man sat down across from him and they drank tea and ate chocolate in silence until evening
at evening the man said, i gave up the meat, i held the posture, i sat through the river, what was it for
death said, for nothing, like the walking
the man said, then who was walking
death poured more tea
the man smiled for the first time since he was a child, then he looked back down the road and saw three travelers walking toward him, a boy carrying a bowl, a young man carrying a folded mat, an old man carrying nothing at all
the man stood up and kept walking