The Self-respect of the Buddhist and the Taoist

In the past, there were two clay idols in a temple.

On the left was the idol of Tai Shang Lao Jun,the founder of Taoism,and on the right theidol of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism.

One day, a monk saw the two idols in the temple. He was displeased and said:

“The power of Buddha is infinite.How can we condescend to allow the idol of Sakyamuni tobe placed on the right of that of Tai Shang Lao Jun?”

So the monk moved the Buddhist idol to the left of the Taoist ido1.

Shortly afterwards, there came a Taoist priest. When he saw the situation, he feltoffended and said:“Our Taoist doctrine is the highest and unsurpassed.How can we condescend to allow theTaoist idol to be placed on the right of the Buddhist idol?”

So the Taoist priest moved the Taoist idol to the left of the Buddhist idol at once.

Thus, the monk and the Taoist priest kept on moving the two idols right and left until theidols were broken into pieces in the end.