The wisest learn the most from others
As I came and went from Maple for the first few years I trained there, I had the opportunity to receive teachings Soryu gave as talks both informal and formal, exhortations in the zendo, casual conversations and non verbal interactions, and sometimes through recordings or hearing a story second-hand from someone else. In the case of the tale that follows I don’t remember the exact context of the talk in which I heard this teaching, but it was one of those sentences that burned into my memory, always available, as vivid as though I was in the room hearing it at any time. Soryu said, ‘the wisest learn the most from others’.
Some time later, I was in the house of some supporters of Maple with Soryu and other community members as we collaborated with our hosts on a project for a few weeks. Over those weeks Soryu had led many guided meditations, led many philosophical discussions, and expounded on many deep topics. Finally towards the end of our stay, our host Rhia, who was an accomplished facilitator herself, offered to lead us in an hours-long guided contemplation and artistic session. I was unsure if Soryu would be participating, but as the time came it became clear he would participate. I wondered how someone with such leadership as him would follow the guidance of another, and how much he was simply participating to pay respect to our host.
Soryu participated fully and silently, without a whiff of restlessness, appearing to be truly open to realizing something new during this process, and I realized that paying respect to our host was something more real than just appearances.