The young boy thought himself clever.
I’ll trick the monk this time, he thought to himself. That monk thinks he knows everything. Always telling us what we should do.
The young boy sat along the path with his friends waiting for the monk.
When the monk arrived, the boy said, “You know everything, so tell me. I have a butterfly in my hand. Is it alive or dead?” The young boy grinned deviously. He planned to crush the butterfly if the monk said it was alive, or set it free if monk said it was dead.
The monk looked at the boy curiously.
“Well?” said the young boy.
“Well,” said the monk, “whether the butterfly lives or dies, it is entirely in your hands.”
This teaching story has many versions and several authors.
And now, “it’s in your hands.”
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