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Title: Flow of Water
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Date: 1886
Language: en
Topics: philosophy
Source: Original text from http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=10602, 2021.

Leo Tolstoy

Flow of Water

Once students found Confucius by the river. The teacher was sitting on

the shore and was looking closely at the water, observing how it ran.

Students were surprised and asked:

“Teacher, what’s the use to observe how water flows? There’s nothing

special in it, that’s how it always was and will be”.

Confucius replied:

“You’re right: this is the most common phenomenon, it always took place

and will continue, and everybody understands it.

But not everybody understands that the flow of water is similar to a

teaching. I was looking at the water and was thinking about it. Waters

flow incessantly, they flow day and night until they merge together in a

large ocean. Similarly, the true teaching of our fathers, grand-fathers,

and grand-grand-fathers from the beginning of the world was flowing

without stop for us.

Let us also ensure that the true teaching flows further, let us work to

pass it to those who will live after us so that they, following our

example, will pass it to their descendants, and so on, until the end of

the world.”