OUR BELOVED MASTER,

Yakusan asked a monk, “Where do you come from?”
“From Nansen,” was the reply.
“How long were you there?” Yakusan continued.
“From last winter to summer,” replied the monk.
“Then you must have become a good ox,” commented Yakusan.
The monk said, “The thing is, I was there, but I didn’t even go to the dining hall.”
“But you cannot get by just through breathing the wind!” Yakusan commented.
“It was not that bad, Osho,” said the monk. “There is surely a man who will hold a spoon for me.”
On another occasion, Yakusan was returning to his temple with a bundle of firewood when a monk asked him, “Where have you been?”
Yakusan replied, “I’ve got firewood.”
The monk pointed to Yakusan’s sword and said, “It makes the sound ‘tap-tap.’ What in the world is it?”
At this the master unsheathed the sword and assumed a warrior’s stance.