One monk fetches water to drink, Two monks carry water to drink, Three monks have no water to drink!

Through out our childhood we have come across fables and tales which have narrated the lesson of unity, teamwork, togetherness, etc. Be it the all time famous "Three Little Pigs" or "Bundle of Sticks", all of these short stories have imbibed in us the spirit of working together. Here is another effort made in the same directions. 

Background (Three Monks - 1980)

Chinese animated feature film produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio in the 80s highlights few such teachings again in altogether a different way. 

• Directed by - A. Da
• Written by - Pao Lei
• Cinematography - You Yong
• Release Year - 1980

Few of the awards which this anime received are 

• Outstanding film award at the China's Ministry of Culture
• Best animated film award at the Golden Rooster Award
• Silver Bear award for short film 

Three Monks (1980)

Plot 

A young monk (red) lives a simple life in a temple on top of a hill. He has one daily task of hauling two buckets of water up the hill. He tries to share the job with another monk (grey), but the carry pole is only long enough for one bucket. The arrival of a third monk (yellow) prompts everyone to expect that someone else will take on the chore. Consequently, no one fetches water though everybody is thirsty. At night, a rat comes to scrounge and then knocks the candle holder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple.

Key Learning


This animation is unique in that unlike most animations, it does an excellent job of getting its point across without any spoken words, the audience who does not speak any Chinese can easily understand it just as good as Chinese. 


The film depicts how the three monks behave differently in different situations. The same is true for humans also. We tend to relax when we see other doing the work for us. This is exactly not how a great organization is created. A successful organization is created by individuals who can be held accountable for their work without monitoring them. They don't need a watchdog to tell them when they have to work. They  are so self motivated that producing results becomes a habit for them. 


We usually have a notion that if the work force increased the productivity will automatically improve, which is absolutely wrong. What is required is proper harmony & coordination among the team members. The very same group of individuals can be held responsible for not delivering the results and also they can deliver something out of box, for that they need to work in tandem, listen to each others idea and then act accordingly. 

Here is the 20 minutes animation film 

Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.