The afternoon sky was dim.
The young man sat on the porch, phone in hand.
He had just read a scandal about a celebrity — and thousands of comments beneath it:
anger, mockery, gloating.

He felt something unsettling:
a part of him… also wanted to gloat.

He turned off the phone and sighed.

The teacher stepped out with a cup of hot tea.

“What wind just blew through your mind?” he asked.

The young man lowered his head.

“I… got swept away.
I didn’t want to gloat, but I felt lighter when someone else fell.
I don’t understand why.”

The teacher nodded.

“That is emotion being led.
And you are not alone.”

He sat beside him.

“You think emotions are yours.
But most of your emotions are reactions —
to the environment,
to the crowd,
to old memories.”

The young man asked:

“But why do I get swept away so quickly?”

The teacher picked up a dry leaf and let it fall.

“Look at this leaf.
The wind blows from one side, it tilts that way.
It doesn’t choose.
It only reacts.”

The young man stayed silent.

“Your mind is the same,” the teacher said.
“When social media blows anger,
your mind tilts toward anger.
When the crowd gloats,
your mind tilts toward gloating.”

Then he spoke with the clarity of Krishnamurti:

“Being led by emotion is not your fault.
Believing that emotion is ‘you’ — that is the fracture.”

The young man closed his eyes.

He remembered the times he had been swept away:
– mocking someone because everyone mocked
– staying silent when someone was hurt
– feeling relief when someone he disliked stumbled

He opened his eyes, voice small:

“Teacher…
I feel ashamed.”

The teacher shook his head.

“No need for shame.
Only seeing.”

He pointed to the water jar.

“Look at the water.
When the wind blows, it ripples.
When the wind stops, it becomes still.
But the nature of water is neither ripple nor stillness.”

The young man watched the surface shift.

“Emotions are the same,” the teacher said.
“Anger, gloating, compassion, indifference —
all are waves.
None are your nature.”

The young man asked:

“Then what do I do when emotion is being led?”

The teacher smiled.

“Nothing.
Just look.”

The young man blinked.

“Just look?”

The teacher nodded.

“When you see an emotion without identifying with it,
it loses its power.
When you see it as wind,
it cannot sweep you away.”

Then he added:

“When you see emotion clearly,
emotion dissolves.”

The young man closed his eyes again.

The gloating feeling was still there —
but this time, he didn’t call it “me.”
He watched it like a small wave.

When he opened his eyes, the wave was still present —
but it no longer carried him.

The teacher said:

“Today, do just one thing:
When emotion is being led,
don’t say ‘I am angry,’ ‘I am gloating,’ ‘I am indifferent.’
Just see:
‘An emotion is being led.’”

The young man nodded.

Not because he had transcended emotion,
but because he finally understood:

Emotion is not him.
Emotion is wind.
And wind cannot sweep away the one who sees the wind.