Today Is Better than Yesterday
August 15, 2011
At Wat Dhammasathit there would be traveling salesmen who would come driving past in the afternoon. Sometimes they’d be selling big water jars, sometimes salt. The most memorable was the one who would come in fairly regularly selling Chinese dumplings. He would get on his loudspeaker as he was driving down the road and announce, “Today’s dumplings are better than yesterday’s.” The next day he’d come back: “Today’s dumplings are better than yesterday’s.” He kept this up day after day. You began to wonder when he was going to reach the platonic ideal of dumplings. But someone pointed out to me one time, “Well, where are yesterday’s dumplings right now? If they’re not down in your intestines, they’re probably down in your cesspool. So, yes, today’s dumplings are better than yesterday’s.”