Be content

In Kyoto today we visited several gardens based in the Zen Buddhist tradition. This is from the Ryoan-ji Temple garden. It features a stone wash-basin called Tsukubai. It is inscribed with four characters which mean I learn only to be contented. The temple’s brochure explains that this is an important Zen principle: He who learns only to be contented is spiritually rich, while the one who does not learn to be contented  is spiritually poor even if he is materially wealthy.