This morning after thoughtless meditation, Head Monk walked into the winter garden lawn, just outside the main meditation hall.
There he found Angry Monk and Business Monk having a big argument. The Monks were fighting about the largeness of their shadows. Angry Monk’s view was that the surface area of his shadow measured as length by width was larger than the area of Business Monk’s shadow. Many of the monks who were watching could not resolve the dispute, since Angry Monk being tall and lean cast a slender shadow; whereas Business Monk being large and stout cast a shorter but broader shadow.
Head Monk stopped them from fighting and asked them to accompany him to Sensei who would resolve their issue. The two monks agreed.
Inside the meditation hall, after Head Monk had explained the problem, Sensei chucked and said, “Show me your shadows, right now. I will tell you, whose is larger…”
The monks did not answer. Inside the covered meditation hall, there were no shadows.
Sensei clapped twice and asked Head Monk to pronounce his verdict.
Head Monk bowed to Sensei, to Buddha, to Angry Monk and to Business Monk and said, “Anything that is temporary and fleeting has no score. A mirage is not supposed to be disputed; it is supposed to be disregarded…”
Head Monk further said, “The largest treasure that you can find is the one that can never be seen… so go look for it instead.”
Sensei smiled in agreement.
*****