There was once an intellectual who enjoyed going to listen to discourses by a
local holy man but who never bothered to follow his directions. The man's talking
parrot once asked him where he went in the evenings. The man explained that he
liked to hear about liberation and freedom and so he went to listen to the
saintly man. The intelligent parrot asked the man to put a question on his
behalf. "How can I be free?"
The intellectual put the question at the next meeting and to everyone's
amazement the saintly man immediately fell down in a faint. The disciples
were very angry with the intellectual for asking such a difficult question.
That evening the man told the parrot what had happened. The next morning
the man come out and found the parrot lying on the floor of his cage. He
opened the cage to see what the matter was and the parrot flew away to the
nearest tree. From his perch he said, "I heeded the saint's instructions
and now I'm free. It would be good if you did the same."
Arguing about Nothing