The Master Joshu was walking in the garden of the Emperor when he was approached by a woman in white. "You are the master?" she asked him.
"You have sought much, yet you ask little," he replied, this being the typical thing for Zen masters to respond.
"Why are Zen masters so damn inscrutable?" the woman asked.
"The tree that stands in the garden hears all, yet says nothing."
"Not really an answer to my question," said the woman, growing irritated. "I'm out here trying to find Master Joshu so I can tell him his dinner is ready."
"Oh, why didn't you say so?" said Joshu. "I'm really hungry." And he went in and ate dinner. Absolutely no one was enlightened. In fact, a few people who had been enlightened got stupider. But such is the way with Zen masters. You win some, you stand silently under a waterfall and think about spring.
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