Here is a Buddhist parable about water. If using it in class, you can invite the learners to read it through on their own and to decide on what they think the message of the story is. They can then get together in small groups to compare their interpretations.

Searching for Answers

There was once a man who formed a religious cult and people regarded him as a very learned person. He had a few followers who recorded his instructions in a book. Over the years the book became voluminous with all sorts of instructions recorded in it. And the followers were advised by their teacher not to do anything without first consulting the holy book. So wherever the followers went and whatever they did, they would consult the book which served as the manual in guiding their lives. One day when the leader was crossing a timber bridge, he fell into the river. The followers were with him but none of them knew what to do under the circumstances. So they consulted the holy book.

"Help! Help!" the Master shouted, "I can't swim."

"Please wait a while Master. Please don't get drowned," they pleaded. "We’re still searching in our holy book. There must be an instruction on what to do if you fall off from a wooden bridge into a river."

But while they were frantically searching through the holy book in order to find the appropriate instruction, the teacher disappeared under the water and drowned.

Suggested Answer:

The message of the story is we should take the enlightened approach, which means neither slavishly following outdated conservative idea, nor resorting to any holy book without using our common sense. On the face of changing circumstances, new discoveries and knowledge, we must learn to adapt ourselves accordingly, and respond to them by using them for the benefit of everybody.