Once there was a great Sufi saint. In his last days, someone asked him about his master. Saint said, “Since you asked I will certainly tell you about three masters.”

曾经有一位伟大的苏菲派（伊斯兰神秘主义派别的总称）圣人。在他生命快结束时，有人让他说说他的老师。圣人说：“既然你问了，我就给你讲讲我的三位老师。”

Among three of them one master was a thief.

这三个人中有一个是小偷。

Once while wandering around in a desert I got lost and till I found a way and reached the village it was too late. Everything was closed and there was no one outside. At last I found a man who was trying to make hole in a wall. I asked him if I could find a place to stay. He replied that it will be difficult to find a place to stay at this time of night but you can stay with me, if it's ok with you to stay with a thief. I stayed with him for a month.

曾经有一次我在沙漠中迷路了，后来我找到一条路，走到村子时已经很晚了。所有店门都关了，外面一个人都没有。最后我发现有一个人正在墙上挖洞，我问他我能否找到一个歇脚的地方，他说这么晚了很难找到待的地方，但如果我愿意和小偷待在一起的话我可以和他一起。然后我和他一起待了一个月。

Each night he would say to me that, “I am going to work. You can rest and pray.” When he came back I would ask him, “Did you get anything today?” He would reply, “No not tonight but tomorrow I will try again. God Willing.” Even after daily disappointment he never lost hope and he was always happy.

每天晚上他都跟我说：“我要去工作了，你可以休息祈祷。”他回来时我会问他：“你今天有收获吗？”他回答说：“今晚没有收获，但明天我会再试试，上天保佑。”甚至在每天都很失望的时候，他也从未失去希望，总是很开心。

When I was meditating for years and still nothing changed, many moments came when I would get so desperate and hopeless that I thought of leaving all this and then suddenly I would remember words of that thief that, “God willing, Tomorrow it is going to happen. ”

我冥想好多年仍没进展时，有好多次我都很绝望，看不到一丝希望，我想过要放弃所有，但我会突然想起那个小偷的话：“上天保佑，明天梦想就能实现。”

# Second master was a dog

第二位老师是一只狗

Once I was going along side of a river, there I saw a dog who was very thirsty. I saw that as dog looked into river to drink water, it saw his own image and got afraid. Seeing his own reflection dog barked and ran away. But because dog was too thirsty he would come back. This happened many time but finally despite his fear, dog jumped into water.

有一次我沿着河边走，看见一只狗很渴。每次这只狗看向水里想要喝水时，它都会看见自己的倒影，很害怕。看着自己的倒影狗就叫着跑开。但它实在太渴了，还得回来。这样重复了好多次，但最终虽然仍然恐惧，但它跳进了河里。

Seeing this I knew that it was a message from God. It means that one has to go forward despite all of his fears.

看到这些，我知道了这是上帝的暗示，意思是一个人要战胜所有恐惧勇往直前。

# Third master was a little boy

第三位老师是一个小男孩

As I entered a town I saw a little kid carrying a lit candle in his hands. I asked him, “Have you lit this candle yourself? ” He replied, “Yes sir.” I said, “There was time when candle was not lit and when it was lit but can you show me the source from which light came?” Boy laughed and blew out the candle and said ,”You have seen light go? Can you tell me where it had gone? ”

我走进一个小镇时看到一个小孩儿手里拿着一支点燃的蜡烛。我问他：“这支蜡烛是你自己点的吗？”他说：“是的，先生。”我说：“有时蜡烛不亮，有时却亮，你能告诉我光亮是从哪里来的吗？”小男孩笑着把蜡烛吹灭了，说：“你看见光亮消失了吧？你能告诉我它去哪儿了吗？”

Boy continued, “Ok, I will tell you it had returned to the source.” This shattered my ego and at that moment I felt how stupid I was. And since then I just dropped all my Knowledge-ability.

小男孩继续说道：“好吧，我告诉你它回到了来的地方。”我的自负荡然无存，那时我想自己多愚蠢啊。从那时起，我放下了自己所有的小聪明。

I had no master but this doesn't means that I was not a disciple. I accepted this whole universe, whole existence as my master.

我没有老师，但这不代表我没有在学习。我把整个宇宙、所有存在都视为自己的老师。

Moral: In this world there are millions of source and you can Learn from Every Possible Source. With a Master you start Learning to learn.

道理：在这个世界上，有很多东西值得学习，你可以从很多事情上学到东西。你要找到自己的老师，学会如何去学习。