The morning was cloudy and damp.
The young man was in the kitchen, struggling to light a fire.
The wood was wet, and the flame kept dying.
He sighed in frustration.
The teacher walked in and watched for a moment.
“What are you fighting with?”
The young man snapped:
“I’m trying to light the fire.
But it won’t burn.
I did everything right, but it still won’t follow my will.”
The teacher smiled.
“Fire doesn’t follow anyone’s will.”
The young man frowned.
“But I arranged the wood correctly.
I blew correctly.
I did everything right.”
The teacher sat beside him.
“That’s because you haven’t understood dependent origination.”
He picked up a piece of wood and handed it to him.
“Look at this.
It’s wet.
No matter how correctly you act, it won’t burn.
Not because you’re wrong —
but because the conditions aren’t right.”
The young man fell silent.
The teacher continued:
“Nothing happens because of one cause.
Nothing happens because you want it.
Everything arises from countless conditions.”
Then he spoke with the clarity of Krishnamurti:
“Look closely: is there truly a ‘person’ controlling everything?
Can you find that person?”
The young man closed his eyes.
He searched.
He searched in frustration.
He searched in the desire to control.
He searched in the belief that things must follow his will.
But there was no “controller.”
Only desire.
Only tension.
Only reaction.
He opened his eyes.
“I… can’t find anyone.”
The teacher nodded.
“Exactly.
There is only wanting.
No one who wants.”
He stood and pointed to the mango tree outside.
“Look at that tree.
It blossoms when there is enough sun.
It bears fruit when there is enough water.
It sheds leaves when there is enough wind.
Nothing follows its will.
Nothing opposes it.
Everything follows conditions.”
The young man watched the tree sway gently.
The teacher said:
“You suffer because you think everything must follow your will.
But your will is only one tiny condition among countless others.”
Then he added:
“When you stop placing the ‘self’ at the center,
life becomes light as wind.”
The young man tried lighting the fire again.
This time, he didn’t force it.
He simply observed: wet wood, weak flame, gentle breeze.
He switched to a drier piece of wood.
The fire caught.
Not because he tried harder,
but because the conditions aligned.
The teacher smiled.
“Today, when something doesn’t go your way, don’t say ‘I want.’
Just see: conditions are not yet sufficient.”
The young man nodded.
Not because he understood dependent origination fully,
but because he finally saw:
The fracture of “everything must follow my will”
was never in the world —
it was in the illusion of a self controlling it.
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