Case 1 — The Vanishing Opportunity #

When Master Chowa was walking in the Valley of Infinite Dreams with his student Feng, they overheard a customer praising a competitor’s product.

Chowa asked, “What is it?”

Feng replied, “It is a market opportunity.”

Chowa asked, “Where is it?”

Feng said, “The competitor has captured it.”

Chowa reached over and pinched Feng’s ear sharply.

Feng cried out in pain.

Chowa said, “Now where is the opportunity?”

That evening, an elder monk asked Chowa, “Why did you not simply tell Feng that opportunities come from pain?”

Chowa smiled and replied, “A lesson in the mind is like winter frost - gone by midday. A lesson in the ear endures like a spring scar - remembered with each morning’s touch.”

When Feng launched his product the following season, competitors rushed to his door with acquisition offers. He served them tea in silence, touching his ear occasionally. His servers hummed with ten thousand customer conversions before the tea grew cold.