TAGS: WHERNTO: heedism erudite operate
A zen master was teaching a class.
One fidgety student was bored and gradually got irritated, because he had decided he couldn't grasp the ideas. This is not surprising since zen is not something to grasp. After all, when one asks "How do you carry zen?", the answer is often "in your empty hand."
In any case, such koans were not something this student wanted to deal with, so eventually he spoke out in frustration:
"I can't understand a thing you are saying."
Master looked at him while all waited in hushed silence at what the master was going to do.
Master said: "Please stand up."
The student stood up.
Master said: "Please come here."
The student walked to the master.
Master said: "Please sit down right here."
The student did as asked.
Then master said: "There! You see how well you understand me!"
Needless to say, the student progressed very well afterwards, so well, in fact, that one day the zen master typically threw him out the window, because there was nothing left for him to learn in that class.
Source: Zen Comics by Ioanna Zalajan