Thus have I heard. On one occasion there lived an ascetic, Khalibetta, in the jackfruit grove across the bamboo bridge. He lived outside the village confines and survived on the fruits of the wild.

There, indeed, the following thought arose: “I have wandered endlessly through forest, plain, and village alike. Yet, my travels have produced no answer as to why I exist and why I suffer. I shall meditate upon this, renouncing food and drink completely until I uncover the truth.”

Khalibetta fought through the pain of hunger and thirst for eight long days. He chanted the following mantra over and over: “I am alive. I am conscious. I am suffering.” Meanwhile, his body became frail and his mind strained, yet he remained determined to realize his goal of finding purpose.

On the ninth day, the ascetic’s meditations were disturbed by the trumpeting of an elephant. Its sound originated from the village and traversed across the bamboo bridge. The elephant soon stopped, but Khalibetta continued to hear an incessant din ringing in his ears. He ceased his chanting. “For nine days I have sat here without food or water, waiting for answers long overdue. I shall go see what beast sees it fit to disturb a pensive man.” He stood up and crossed the bamboo bridge into the village.

Khalibetta walked until he reached the small courtyard of a villa. There, the elephant was, wearing a golden head plate and a silver-studded velvet saddle. Upon seeing the elephant, the ascetic’s scrunched brow softened. He was struck by the composure of the animal. Its majestic trunk curved elegantly as it trumpeted. Its grand eyes were boastful with power but tamed with an inherent kindness.

The ascetic spoke aloud. “It is apparent that this animal is no beast. It stands true, truer than any man I have ever seen. This elephant surely has mingled with deities I have only dreamt of and must know that which I do not know. O Certain One, tell me the answers I seek. Tell me why I exist and why I suffer. I have fought through pain and hunger to this end.”

The elephant did not move and did not speak. Khalibetta desperately fell to his knees and pleaded. “O Certain One, shall you let the ignorant remain so? Here is a lost man who pleads earnestly and one whom you can help. For eight days, I have chanted the following to no avail: “I am alive. I am conscious. I am suffering.” What else must I do?”

The elephant did not move and did not speak. The ascetic continued to plead and prostrated himself before the elephant. Some villagers saw the frail man and offered him food while others walked around the wretched man.

Khalibetta ignored them all. He stayed until the next morning. “O Certain One, it is apparent that I am not worthy of the knowledge you have. I shall leave this village and return across the bamboo bridge to meditate once more.”

Across the bamboo bridge, Khalibetta sat down and chanted. “I am alive. I am conscious. I am suffering.” He continued so until mid-day when he became dizzy and collapsed to the ground. His body lay shiftless.

When he opened his eyes that night, the elephant stood above him. Khalibetta uttered the following: “O Certain One, you have taken heed of my sacrifice. Will you tell me now?”

The elephant spoke. “O Novice, you suffer without cause. You have renounced it all, a decision which may be rightly so, but you have not pondered why.”

“O Certain One, thou who walk and live the proper way as a figure for us to follow, I do suffer with cause. For years I have traveled and sought to be awakened just as you are, but I have found myself afflicted time and time again by the troubles of this world, unable to escape suffering, unable to live truly joyous.”

“Khalibetta, listen to me and listen to me well. You seek change yet remain the same. You have been absorbed by the self. You have left yourself vulnerable to the self’s helpless rigidity. It is the cause; you are the cause. Your soul desires change yet the self, the mischievous self, does not present itself as an option. Now instead you believe the body must change, the people must change, the animals must change.”

The ascetic did not know how to respond.

“Novice, chant the following: Transcend the self. Accept the truth of beauty. Live through the non-self.”

The ascetic parted his cracked lips. “Transcend the self. Accept the truth of beauty. Live through the non-self.” He repeated it over and over. Suddenly, Khalibetta began to feel rejuvenated. He began to feel alive.

“Do away with the hurt and harm. Come with me. Your journey begins now.” The elephant wrapped his trunk around the man’s body and placed him onto the saddle. They then rode over the bamboo bridge into the village.

All of the villagers, whether they had offered to help or had ignored him earlier, looked up at the man in the saddle. They smiled and nodded to Khalibetta as he and the elephant trodded off into the forest.

The village never saw Khalibetta again.