One morning in the town market, a small group gathered for their usual lesson with the sage.
Among them was a woman who often came to listen.
But that day, after the lesson ended, she remained sitting quietly. She looked distressed, as if some injustice had happened to her.
The sage approached her and invited her for a walk through the market. He said he wanted to buy some sweets for the children.
“You seem troubled today,” the sage said.
“Everywhere I look,” she replied,
“I see injustice, cruelty, and selfishness.
People hurt each other without care. Sometimes it feels as if goodness has no place left in this world.”
The sage listened quietly as they stepped into the busy market.
Merchants called out their prices, children ran between the stalls, and people bargained loudly over fruit and cloth.
The sage stopped in front of a small shop filled with mirrors.
Large mirrors hung from wooden beams, catching the afternoon light.
Smaller ones were stacked on tables, while the shopkeeper carefully polished one with a cloth.
The sage pointed to a large mirror hanging by the entrance.
“Tell me,” he asked, “does this mirror reflect you?”
The woman looked into it.
“Yes,” she said. “I see myself clearly.”
As the shopkeeper moved a box, a small cracked mirror shard slid from the table and fell to the ground.
The sage picked it up and handed it to her.
“And this one?” he asked, smiling.
The woman studied the broken piece.
“Yes,” she said slowly.
“It still reflects me.”
Then the sage guided her to a nearby window of the shop.
The glass was thick with dust from the market road.
“Does this reflect you?” he asked.
The woman leaned closer.
“No,” she replied.
“I can barely see anything.”
The sage wiped the dust away with his sleeve.
“Look again.”
Now her reflection appeared clearly in the glass.
The sage smiled gently.
“As long as the mirror reflects you,” he said,
there is nothing in the world to be distressed about.
Your only task is to keep the mirror clear.
“Sometimes,” he continued softly,
people allow dust to settle in their own mirrors, and they act with injustice.
But that does not change who you are.
If you remain loyal to your own nature,
the world cannot take your goodness or your clarity from you.
“Do not spend your life trying to fix every reflection you see,” the sage said softly.
“Just keep your own mirror clean. That is how you ensure there is always a place for goodness in this world.”
The woman bowed to the sage, understanding his words.
They both looked at the window the sage had just cleaned.
At that moment, they saw in the glass the reflection of the sweet seller passing by with his cart.
The sage smiled and said,
“Oh, I can see sweetness in the mirror.”
They laughed and hurried after the sweet seller.
The sage still had sweets to buy for the children.
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