The Coffee-House of Surat

In the Indian city of Surat there was a coffee-house. Travelers and foreigners from various lands would gather there and often converse.

Once a Persian scholar-theologian stopped in. All his life he had studied the essence of divinity and had read and written books about it. He thought, read, and wrote about God for so long that his mind went astray, everything became confused in his head, and he reached the point where he ceased to believe in God.

The king learned of this and banished him from the Persian kingdom.

And so, by reasoning all his life about the first cause, the unfortunate theologian became entangled and, instead of understanding that he himself had lost his reason, came to think that there was no longer any Supreme Reason governing the world.

This theologian had an African slave who followed him everywhere. When the theologian entered the coffee-house, the African stayed outside by the door and sat down on a stone in the sun; he sat there swatting flies away from himself. The theologian meanwhile lay down on a divan in the coffee-house and ordered a cup of opium brought to him. When he had drunk the cup and the opium began stirring his brain, he turned to his slave.

“Tell me, despicable slave,” said the theologian, “what do you think—is there a God or not?”

“Of course there is!” said the slave and immediately pulled out a small wooden idol from his belt. “Here,” said the slave, “here is the god who has protected me since I have been alive in this world. This god is made from a branch of the same sacred tree that everyone in our country worships.”

Those in the coffee-house heard this conversation between the theologian and the slave and were astonished.

The master’s question seemed remarkable to them, but the slave’s answer seemed even more remarkable.

A Brahmin who had heard the slave’s words turned to him and said:

“Unhappy fool! How can one think that God could be kept in a person’s belt? God is one—Brahma. And this Brahma is greater than the entire world because he created the whole world. Brahma is the one, great God, the God for whom temples have been built on the banks of the river Ganges, the God who is served by his sole priests—the Brahmins. Only these priests know the true God. Already one hundred twenty thousand years have passed, and however many upheavals there have been in the world, these priests have remained as they always were, because Brahma, the one true God, protects them.”

So spoke the Brahmin, thinking to convince everyone; but a Jewish money-changer who was present objected to him.

“No,” he said. “The temple of the true God is not in India! And God does not protect the caste of Brahmins! The true God is not the God of the Brahmins but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And the true God protects only His own people, Israel. God from the beginning of the world has unceasingly loved and loves our people alone. And though our people are now scattered throughout the earth, this is only a trial, and God, as He promised, will gather His people again in Jerusalem, and having restored that wonder of antiquity, the Temple of Jerusalem, will place Israel as ruler over all peoples.”

So spoke the Jew, and he wept. He wanted to continue speaking, but an Italian who was present interrupted him.

“You speak untruth,” said the Italian to the Jew. “You attribute injustice to God. God cannot love one people more than another. On the contrary, even if He did formerly protect Israel, now already 1,800 years have passed since God grew angry and as a sign of His anger ended its existence and scattered this people over the earth, so that this faith not only does not spread but only barely remains here and there. God shows preference to no people, but calls all who wish to be saved into the bosom of the one Roman Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation.”

So spoke the Italian. But a Protestant pastor who was there, turning pale, answered the Catholic missionary:

“How can you say that salvation is possible only in your confession? Know that only those will be saved who, according to the Gospel, will serve God in spirit and in truth according to the law of Jesus.”

Then a Turk who worked in the Surat customs house, who was sitting there smoking his pipe with an important air, turned to both Christians.

“In vain are you so confident in the truth of your Roman faith,” he said. “Your faith was replaced by the true faith of Muhammad already about six hundred years ago. And, as you can see yourselves, the true faith of Muhammad spreads more and more in Europe, in Africa, in Asia, and even in enlightened China. You yourselves acknowledge that the Jews are rejected by God, and as proof you point to the fact that the Jews are in humiliation and their faith does not spread. Then acknowledge the truth of the faith of Muhammad, for it is in greatness and constantly spreading. Only those who believe in the last prophet of God, Muhammad, will be saved. And of those, only the followers of Omar, not Ali, for the followers of Ali are infidels.”

At these words the Persian theologian, who belonged to the sect of Ali, wanted to object. But at this time a great argument arose in the coffee-house among all the foreigners of various faiths and confessions present. There were Abyssinian Christians, Indian lamas, Ismailis, and fire-worshippers.

Everyone argued about the essence of God and how one should worship Him. Each maintained that only in his country did they know the true God and know how to properly worship Him.

Everyone argued and shouted. Only one Chinese man who was there, a disciple of Confucius, sat quietly in a corner of the coffee-house and did not enter into the dispute. He drank tea, listened to what was said, but remained silent himself.

The Turk, noticing him in the midst of the dispute, turned to him and said:

“At least you support me, good Chinese. You are silent, but you could say something in my favor. I know that in your country various faiths are now being introduced. Your merchants have told me more than once that your Chinese consider the Muhammadan faith the best of all other faiths and gladly accept it. So support my words and say what you think about the true God and His prophet.”

“Yes, yes, tell us what you think,” the others turned to him as well.

The Chinese, the disciple of Confucius, closed his eyes, thought, and then, opening them, drew his hands from the wide sleeves of his garment, folded them on his chest, and began to speak in a quiet, calm voice.

---

“Gentlemen,” he said, “it seems to me that the self-love of people more than anything else prevents their agreement in matters of faith. If you will take the trouble to listen to me, I will explain this to you with an example.

“I sailed from China to Surat on an English steamer that had gone around the world. On the way we stopped at the eastern shore of the island of Sumatra to take on water. At noon we went ashore and sat down on the seashore in the shade of coconut palms, not far from a village of the islanders. Several of us from various lands sat together.

“While we sat, a blind man approached us.

“This man had gone blind, as we later learned, from staring too long and intently at the sun, because he wanted to understand what the sun is. He wanted to find this out in order to capture the sun’s light.

“He struggled for a long time, using all the sciences; he wanted to capture a few of the sun’s rays, to catch them and cork them up in a bottle.

“He struggled for a long time and kept staring at the sun and could do nothing, and all that happened was that from the sun his eyes began to hurt and he went blind.

“Then he said to himself:

“‘The light of the sun is not a liquid, because if it were a liquid it would be possible to pour it from one vessel to another and it would ripple from the wind, like water. The light of the sun is also not fire, because if it were fire it would be extinguished in water. Light is also not spirit, because it can be seen, and not body, because it cannot be moved. And since the light of the sun is not liquid, not fire, not spirit, and not body, the light of the sun is nothing.’

“So he reasoned, and at the same time, from constantly staring at the sun and constantly thinking about it, he lost both his sight and his reason.

“And when he had become completely blind, then he became absolutely convinced that the sun does not exist.

“Along with this blind man came his slave. He seated his master in the shade of a coconut tree, picked up a coconut from the ground, and began making a lamp from it. He made a wick from coconut fiber, squeezed oil from the nut into the shell, and dipped the wick into it.

“While the slave was making his lamp, the blind man sighed and said to him:

“‘Well, slave, wasn’t I right in telling you there is no sun? You see how dark it is. And they say—the sun… But what is the sun, anyway?’

“‘I don’t know what the sun is,’ said the slave. ‘It’s none of my concern. But I know light. Here, I’ve made a lamp; it will give me light, and I can serve you with it too and find everything in my hut.’

“And the slave took the shell in his hand. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘is my sun.’

“A lame man with a crutch was sitting there too. He heard this and laughed.

“‘You must have been blind from birth,’ he said to the blind man, ‘if you don’t know what the sun is. I’ll tell you what it is: the sun is a fiery ball, and this ball comes out of the sea every day and every evening sets in the mountains of our island; we all see this, and you would see it too if you were sighted.’

“A fisherman who was sitting there heard these words and said to the lame man:

“‘It’s clear that you have never been anywhere beyond your island. If you weren’t lame and had traveled by sea, you would know that the sun doesn’t set in the mountains of our island, but just as it rises from the sea, so in the evening it sets again in the sea. I speak truly, because I see this with my own eyes every day.’

“An Indian heard this.

“‘I am amazed,’ he said, ‘that an intelligent person can say such foolish things. Is it possible for a fiery ball to descend into water and not be extinguished? The sun is not at all a fiery ball; the sun is a deity; this deity is called Deva. This deity rides in a chariot across the sky around the golden mountain Meru. It sometimes happens that the evil serpents Rahu and Ketu attack Deva and swallow him, and then it becomes dark. But our priests pray for the deity to be freed, and then it is freed. Only such ignorant people as you, who have never traveled beyond your island, can imagine that the sun shines only on your island.’

“Then the owner of an Egyptian ship who was there spoke up.

“‘No,’ he said, ‘that too is not true: the sun is not a deity and doesn’t go only around India and its golden mountain. I have sailed much on the Black Sea and along the coasts of Arabia, and have been to Madagascar and the Philippine Islands—the sun illuminates all lands, not just India; it doesn’t go around only one mountain, but it rises off the shores of Japan (and that is why those islands are called Japan, which means in their language “the birth of the sun”) and sets far, far away in the west, beyond the islands of England. I know this well because I have seen much myself and have heard much from my grandfather. And my grandfather sailed to the very edges of the sea.’

“He wanted to say more, but an English sailor from our ship interrupted him.

“‘There is no land except England,’ he said, ‘where they know better how the sun moves. The sun, as we all know in England, rises nowhere and sets nowhere. It goes constantly around the earth. We know this well because we ourselves have just gone around the earth and nowhere ran into the sun. Everywhere it appears in the morning and disappears in the evening, just as it does here.’

“And the Englishman took a stick, drew a circle in the sand, and began explaining how the sun moves through the sky around the earth. But he couldn’t explain it well and, pointing to the helmsman of our ship, said:

“‘He, however, is more educated than I and will explain all this to you better.’

“The helmsman was a sensible man and had listened to the conversation in silence until he was asked. But now, when everyone turned to him, he began to speak and said:

“‘You are all deceiving each other and deceiving yourselves. The sun doesn’t revolve around the earth, but the earth revolves around the sun and also turns on itself, presenting to the sun in the course of twenty-four hours Japan, and the Philippine Islands, and Sumatra where we are sitting, and Africa, and Europe, and Asia, and many more lands besides. The sun shines not for one mountain alone, not for one island, not for one sea, and not even for one earth, but for many planets like the earth. Any of you could understand all this if you looked up at the sky rather than at your own feet, and didn’t think that the sun shines only for you alone or for your homeland alone.’

“So spoke the wise helmsman, who had traveled much around the world and had looked much up at the sky.”

---

“Yes, the errors and disagreements of people in faith come from self-love,” continued the Chinese, the disciple of Confucius. “What happens with the sun is the same with God. Each person wants to have his own special God, or at least the God of his native land. Each nation wants to enclose in its temple the One whom the whole world cannot contain.

“And can any temple compare with the one that God Himself built to unite all people in one confession and one faith?

“All human temples are made after the pattern of this temple—the world of God. In all temples there are fonts, there are vaults, lamps, images, inscriptions, books of law, sacrifices, altars, and priests. But in what temple is there such a font as the ocean, such a vault as the vault of heaven, such lamps as the sun, moon, and stars, such images as living, loving people helping one another? Where are inscriptions about God’s goodness as comprehensible as those blessings which God has scattered everywhere for the happiness of people? Where is such a book of law, so clear to everyone, as the one written in his heart? Where are sacrifices like those sacrifices of self-renunciation which loving people offer to their neighbors? And where is an altar like the heart of a good person, on which God Himself accepts the sacrifice?

“The higher a person’s understanding of God, the better he will know Him. And the better he knows God, the more he will approach Him, imitating His goodness, mercy, and love for people.

“And therefore let the one who sees all the light of the sun filling the world—let him not condemn or despise the superstitious person who sees in his idol only one ray of that same light; let him not despise even the unbeliever who has become blind and sees no light at all.”

So spoke the Chinese, the disciple of Confucius, and all who were in the coffee-house fell silent and no longer argued about whose faith was better.

—Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (translated by L. N. Tolstoy)

---

Translator’s Notes:

• Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814) was a French writer and botanist, best known for his novel Paul et Virginie. This parable comes from his philosophical work La Chaumière indienne (The Indian Cottage, 1791).
• Tolstoy adapted this story, likely shortening and simplifying it for his popular audience while preserving its central message about religious tolerance and the limitations of sectarian thinking.
• The nested parable structure—a story within a story—allows Tolstoy to draw parallels between disagreements about the physical sun and disagreements about God, both stemming from limited perspective and self-love.
• The figure of the wise Chinese Confucian serves as a mouthpiece for universal religious truth that transcends all particular religions—a perspective deeply aligned with Tolstoy’s own mature religious philosophy.
• The image of the world as God’s temple, containing all that human temples merely imitate, recurs throughout Tolstoy’s religious writings.