An Elephant

Mary: The story of the blind men and an elephant comes from ancient India. There were four blind men. Each one described what an elephant was like based on his own experience. The first man said it’s like a pillar because he had touched one of the elephant’s legs. The second one said it’s like a rope because he touched the tail. The other two said it’s like a hand fan and a wall because they touched the ear and the belly. Their conclusions were all different.


Blind Men and An Elephant
Pedro: I thought it was 6 blind men. So we hear different descriptions about the mind like they say different things about the elephant?

M: OK, six. And yes, a person with full vision can see that the blind men are talking about different things because they touch only a small part of the elephant's body. But the blind men don’t know that. Maybe the Buddha is a man of vision who sees the whole mind; but we mortals only get partial views. Still, it’s not clear what the whole mind is based on his teaching.

P: I don’t get it either. Just remember a bad joke. A naked man walks into a bar and sees an elephant. The elephant looks at him and says “that’s cute, but can you really breathe through that thing?”

M: That’s awful! Where did you hear that?

P: From Dusty and Lefty, of A Prairie Home Companion radio show. I love that show. It’s on the KQED station on Saturdays.

By late afternoon the community work is over. Mary and Pedro say goodbye to each other and leave the temple. That night Mary looks up the Internet and finds more stories about elephants. Legend has it that Siddhartha’s mother, queen Maya, conceived him on the night when she dreamed that she was dancing with a baby elephant. China has a similar version of the blind men and elephant story that is likely originated from India. The story has influenced the Chinese culture so much that it’s etched into her language.

The Chinese word for ‘elephant’ 象 can also mean ‘appearance’ or ‘shape’ or ‘form’. For examples, pictograph 象形 (elephant-shape), weather 氣象 (air-elephant), portrait 肖像 (people-elephant), partner 對象 (match-elephant). Another word 相 has the same pronunciation as 象. It can also mean ‘appearance’, as in the case of 照相 or 相片 (photograph). That word may be a simplified character for ‘elephant’. In the Chinese chess game, one side has a piece marked as 象; the counterpart on the other side is 相.

Mary looks at some pictures of elephants, and a light bulb lights up. There's more to it than meets the eye. Does an elephant appear the same way to a child as to an adult? to a hunter vs. to a farmer? to an agitated person and to a calm person? to a bird, a fly, a tiger, a tree? No, it must be all different. What’s more, none can see what’s under the skin - the bones, the flesh, blood, nerves, fluids, microscopic cells and bacteria, and who knows what else. But surely there are more, much much more. What, then, is the ‘whole’ elephant?


Le Boy de Marius Bouillabès
A seeing man sees more than the blind men. But it is questionable that he can see the ‘whole’. Science fiction will say that to a 4-dimensional being we are blind men. And a 5-dimensional being will call a 4-dimensional being a blind man. And so on.

Nevertheless, limited though it may be, the point of view is still the thing, since the basis of realism is perspective. As for the question of enlightenment, what then can be a good perspective, a good approach, to the mind? Can it be the brain activity?