Once during the building process of the monastery, Master Guang Qin poured out the nails which had been arranged well in the nail box. He then asked his disciples to pick the nails.
At first his disciples were very puzzled thinking that they had been busy since morning for the building process, why our old Master still poured out the nails and asked us to pick them up? But they still followed his instruction.
The disciples picked up the nails until very late at night eventhough they didn't know why their old Master Guang Qin did it.
When they had finished picking up the nails, they reported this to their Master. But, old Master Guang Qin only said "To pick is your matter, not to pick is also your matter."
So, what do you realize in this story?
I guess the hidden meaning in this story is that Master Guang Qin wanted them to realize that to cultivate and solve the problem of life and death is one's personal matter. Nobody can cultivate for you. The Buddha can only guide us, but He cannot cultivate for us.
When I start to become lazy in my "Ksitigarbha Sutra" daily chanting, I will remember this story and it really reminds me to have chanting routinely. We have the rights to choose to cultivate or not. And we will reap what we have done.
What do you think?