The Buddha’s Morning Lesson

One morning, the Buddha came to his disciples for his usual teaching. He held a knotted handkerchief in his hand and showed it to his disciples, asking, "Can anyone here untie this knot?"

### The First Attempt

A disciple stepped forward and tried to untie the knot. He pulled and tugged at it, but the more he pulled, the tighter the knot became.

### The Second Disciple's Approach

Then, another disciple came forward. He looked at the knot closely for a few seconds. After examining it, he easily untied it. What he did was observe the knot carefully and understand how it was tied. Then, by reversing the same method, he untied the knot effortlessly.

### Learning from the Knot

The knot itself taught him how to untie it.

### The Deeper Lesson

This simple story offers a profound lesson: to solve the problems we face in life, it is essential to understand them well. Simply rushing and trying to solve problems hastily can make them worse. However, by calmly analysing the situation and identifying the root cause of the problem, the solution becomes easy to find. Therefore, when approaching any problem, we should first strive to understand its nature thoroughly. At that point, the solution will naturally present itself.