Remember to assume the best in people

Each day at about the same time, one of the temple girls would hit a wooded tone block, which was in a AFL football like shape with a slit on one side.

We didn't understand the reason for this until the tour guide for the bike ride explained the story.

A Buddhist monk lived in a temple with a Young boy as his helper and a Goose. Each day the monk would meditate by counting beads on the string. One day the monk counted one less bead than normal. Knowing that he had great concentration skills, the monk assumed that the boy had stolen a bead.

He asked the boy, who denied taking a bead, however the monk did not believe the boy. He searched the boys belongings and the entire temple and when the bead wasn't found the monk decided that the boy must had swallowed the bead. So the boy then went and slit his stomach open to prove to the monk that he had not taken the bead. The bead was not in the boys stomach but the boy then died. The monk was very upset.

The monk then noticed the Goose, and decided to slit open the Gooses stomach and there was the bead.


So each day at the temple, a wooden block in the shape of a stomach with a slit is hit a certain number of times, to remind everyone to always assume the best in people. (this story may be an inaccurate portrayal because it assumes the best of my memory!).